Rivals, Enemies and Lovers?
by prettylittleravenclaw
Summary: When Katie Bell joined the Gryffindor Quidditch team, a rivalry soon grew between her and Slytherin chaser/captain, Marcus Flint; a rivalry even bigger than that of him and Oliver Wood. They seem to hate each other's guts, but do they really? Rated T.
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: As much as I love Harry Potter, I don't own any of it!

* * *

"Everyone, listen up. I'd like to announce our newest Chaser, Katie Bell. Congratulations, Bell, welcome to the team."

Katie squealed and jumped around the Quidditch field while the Weasley twins, Angelina Johnson, and Alicia Spinnet cheered loudly, before giving Oliver Wood, the captain, a warm hug. "Thank you so much! And call me Katie."

"We're going to win the Cup for sure this year!" Wood beamed. "We've got the twins, Angelina and Alicia for size, Katie for speed, and…"

"You're forgetting something," interrupted Angelina. "We still don't have a Seeker."

"I'll get to work on that," he brushed her off quickly. "But the point is, we actually have a chance of beating Slytherin this year."

"Is that so, Wood?"

Katie turned to see the Slytherins walking in unison towards them, led by a tall, tough, muscular brown-haired sixth-year boy with large, crooked teeth. "You think you can beat us now that you have a scrawny little blonde on your team?" Marcus Flint threw her a dirty look.

Now it was Katie's turn to talk. It did not matter to her that she was barely as tall as his chest; she walked right up to him and said, "Watch your mouth, troll, because I could probably fly circles around you any day." Flint hissed in anger, teeth bared, and looked as though he was going to strangle her.

Fred and George whistled and clapped. "Looks like you just got beaten by a twelve-year-old, Flint," they taunted him and proceeded to high-five each other.

"So who's your Seeker?" Flint sneered, looking at the six Gryffindors.

"That will be a surprise," Wood said tightly. "He's not practicing with the team quite yet; I'm giving him private lessons."

"See you on the field," Flint said gruffly and motioned for his team to leave, but not without looking back at his new opponent with both disdain and a bit of respect; nobody dared stand up to him, not even his own team. But to Katie, it was mostly of disdain, and she glared right back him with fierce determination.

"You're going down, Flint," she said quietly.

* * *

"So we do have a Seeker after all?" Alicia Spinnet said. "Why didn't you tell us?"

"I want to keep it on the down low, because the rules are already being bent enough as it is," Oliver explained. He lowered his voice. "It's Potter."

Everyone gasped. _The _Harry Potter would be playing for _them_? "Can he even fly?" Angelina was skeptical.

"McGonagall caught him catching a remembrall during flying lessons yesterday and brought him to me," he said matter-of-factly.

"But first years aren't allowed to play!" she protested.

"Exactly what I meant," he said impatiently. "Now, the first match is in three weeks. We start practice tomorrow at five."

The next three weeks were intense; three-hour practices six days a week led Katie to constantly skip breakfast during the week to finish her homework in the morning because she would be too tired to do it the night before. Sometimes she would even be late to class due to oversleeping.

A couple of days before the match, she woke up to hear the clock strike nine. "Shit!" she said aloud as she realized she was the only one left in the girls' dormitory. "Why didn't anyone bother to wake me?" She shook her head and scrambled into her uniform before running out the door and sprinting through the corridors and staircases to the potions dungeon.

About halfway there, she ran into a large, muscular boy and fell backwards, her books falling out of her bag. She looked up to find herself staring into the piercing, nearly black eyes of Marcus Flint. "Going somewhere?" he smirked.

"No, I run through the corridors with my book bag for fun," she replied sarcastically before glaring at him as she reached for her books. To her surprise, Marcus bent down and grabbed her books for her, placing them in her bag before yanking her up by the forearm with one of his strong arms. "Um, thanks," she said uncertainly, surprised by his uncharacteristically kind gesture. "Shouldn't you be in class?" Katie asked.

"Aren't you supposed to be late?" he retorted, still smirking.

"Ugh, Professor Snape is going to kill me," Katie quickly got up and walked away before he could say anymore.

* * *

"And what excuse do you have for being thirty minutes late to class, Miss Bell?" Snape said icily with his usual stoic, expressionless face.

"She was asking me for Quidditch tips, Professor," Marcus Flint suddenly showed up at the door to the Potions classroom.

"Is that so?" Snape turned to Katie.

_What_? She thought. _I was_ not! But she nodded anyway, slightly confused as to why he of all people would save her neck like that. He _was _a Slytherin after all.

"I extend my congratulations to you for making your House team," Snape continued. "As for you, Flint, five points from Slytherin. I do not need to explain why. Now before I was rudely interrupted by Ms. Bell here," some Slytherins started giggling, "please continue outlining the lesson, to be given to me by the end of class. Miss Bell, you may give it to me first thing tomorrow for half credit before we begin brewing. I highly suggest that you don't be late. I will not let you off so easy next time, even if you were with one of my students." Katie knew Snape tended to favor his students over everyone else; had he not covered up for her, she would've gotten at least twenty house points taken away. But what really left her wondering was why. Why had Marcus Flint, the Slytherin Quidditch captain, their ringleader, covered up for a little blonde second-year Gryffindor like her after jeering at her the day before?

* * *

This is my first Harry Potter fanfiction of a shipping that I recently discovered and found appealing. Most of the stories with them I've seen are one-shots but I anticipate this one being 10-12 chapters long since there aren't enough of those! Anyways, comments/suggestions are appreciated!


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter!

* * *

"Katie! Katie! Wake up, it's the first match of the season against Slytherin today!" Angelina Johnson and Alicia Spinnet bounced on her bed.

"Mmm," Katie groaned. She was not a morning person at all.

"Come on, you need your strength today!" Angelina pulled her out of bed and tossed Quidditch robes to her. "We'll see you downstairs!"

After she finished braiding a crown into her head and pony tailing it, she finally made her way down to the Great Hall for breakfast.

"Prepare to get crushed today, Bell," a gruff, husky voice drawled as she subsequently got yanked by her ponytail. She turned to see none other than the Slytherin Quidditch captain with his usual smirk on his face.

"Break a leg, _Flint_. Do you mind?"

"Do I mind what?" he asked innocently.

"My hair," Katie said through gritted teeth. "Pull any harder and you'll rip it all out!"

After a few more seconds, he finally let go. "Let's see you fly in circles _now_. I tend to cause migraines after stuff like that."

"Ugh, leave me _alone_!" she grumbled and walked away.

She took a spot next to Angelina and Alicia and munched on some wheat toast with butter and a blueberry scone.

"What kept you?" Alicia asked.

"Stupid Flint grabbed me by my hair on my way down," she rolled her eyes.

"That arse!" Angelina scowled in his direction. "Don't worry, Katie. We'll rip him to shreds on the pitch today. Isn't that right, Alicia?"

"Of course," she agreed.

* * *

"Okay everyone," Oliver Wood stood in front of everyone. "This is it. This may be the first time ever we could beat Slytherin in a Quidditch match. We've got the best talent in Gryffindor history. Remember, Slytherin plays dirty so watch out and don't be afraid to draw the penalty. Clear? Alright. Let's go."

He then went to Katie, who tried not to show any signs of nervousness. "How are you feeling?" he asked her.

"Nervous," Katie admitted, thinking of Marcus Flint's threat. "They're all so big. What if they hurt me?"

"Fred and George are the best beaters we have," he assured her. "They'll be looking out for you."

She gave him a small smile as he turned to give Potter a pep-talk. She clutched her Cleansweep Seven in hand and followed her teammates onto the center of the field for the captains' handshake.

"Captains, shake hands."

Flint and Wood looked at each other intensely, trying to crush each others' fingers. While giving Wood his death grip, Flint stole a menacing, determined look at Katie Bell. She pretended not to be scared. He was, after all, four years older than her and very large in frame compared to her.

"Players, mount your brooms."

They did not have to wait for her to tell them. Everyone had already been in the air before she could say "brooms." Madame Hooch released the Quaffle and the Golden Snitch, and the game began.

Katie quickly dove at the Quaffle and sped away with it towards the Slytherin goals, passing it smoothly back and forth with Angelina Johnson. Alicia Spinnet was not far behind in between the two, ready to provide back-up. After a double-pass from Angelina and Alicia, Katie volleyed it into the goal with her foot into the second-highest post.

"AND GRYFFINDOR'S NEWEST CHASER SCORES THE FIRST GOAL! TEN POINTS TO GRYFFINDOR!"

The three girls high-fived each other and started after the Slytherin chasers.

"Take him over there!" Angelina pointed towards Marcus Flint.

"Are you crazy?" Katie yelled back. "You go, you're bigger and stronger!"

"You're the fastest," Alicia called. "He won't know what hit him. Now go before he catches you!"

Katie's eyes narrowed as she came up next to him and attempted to punch the Quaffle from under his arm. He saw her and bumped her hard enough to veer her off the path. She bounced back and played him at his own game. After gaining enough momentum, she smacked into him as hard as he could. He barely moved a foot, but she had managed to knock the Quaffle out of his grip and sped towards the ground after it. She steered upwards and called out, "Alicia! Shot!"

With that, Gryffindor had scored another goal.

Meanwhile, Marcus Flint was getting furious. He sped over to his Beaters and said, "Get her square in the head. Have no mercy."

They nodded in agreement. However, Flint's orders were easier said than done. Katie was very fast and agile and had quick reflexes. It would take more than a few Bludgers to rattle her.

"I'll take care of her," Flint growled, and he sped off after her.

Katie did not have the Quaffle, but she was looking to receive a pass from Alicia, who was being blocked by the two other Slytherin Chasers.

"Alicia! Over here!" she called, but as she sped forward to catch it, Flint sped right into her extended arm in the shoulder area, jerking it backwards. "Ahh!" she cried out in pain, and had to resort to using her left arm to pass and receive while using her bad arm to hold on to her broomstick.

She glared angrily in Flint's direction, who only bared his teeth at her. "Don't say I didn't warn you," he said with utmost contempt.

Katie groaned in frustration. He did warn her, yes, but she never imagined that he would be so brutal. She was practically useless with one arm, so she simply covered for her teammates.

"How you doing over there, Katie?" Fred called.

"Eh, my right arm's busted. Aim a Bludger at Flint for me, will you?"

"My pleasure!" he said happily and whacked the nearest Bludger in Flint's direction, who missed it by inches.

"You alright there, Bell? Can you make it?" Wood called from the post.

"Yeah, I think I'll manage," she called out and proceeded to search for Angelina and Alicia.

She was distracted by the sight of Harry Potter nearly falling off his broom. "Wood!" she called out, trying to get his attention. "WOOD!" she tried again, louder this time. "OLIVER…"

But before she could finish yelling out his surname, Marcus Flint took the opportunity to take her by surprise and ram her as hard as he could against one of the spectator stands.

She did not scream or cry in pain like he had anticipated, but instead did not know what hit her. "What's…happening…to…"

Everything went black.

* * *

Okay so I've changed my mind. I think I'll extend this to end sometime around Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince! Thank you to the two people who have added this story to their favorites list :] if you like this make sure to recommend it to others!


	3. Chapter 3

Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter!

* * *

Katie Bell woke up two days later in the Hospital Wing with a massive migraine. All she remembered was trying to get Oliver Wood's attention about Harry falling off his broom and getting rammed into the spectator stands by Marcus Flint. _That bastard_, she thought. _Did he not have any integrity at all?_

She sat up slowly to find that people had left her treats and get-well cards. But what really caught her attention was a bouquet of scarlet red roses sitting in a vase with a note attached to it. She did not have it in her quite yet to reach over and get it, so she just smiled and made a mental note to find out who sent them later.

"Ah, Miss Bell, you're awake!" Madame Pomfrey came in with a smile. "How are you feeling?"

"I have a headache, but I think I'll be okay," she nodded. "Was it a concussion?"

"It was, but I healed what I could," Pomfrey said. "Right now, I'd suggest you take a lot of fluids. Meanwhile, I'll be leaving for a bit. There's someone who's been waiting to see you."

Katie expected to see Angelina, Alicia, and the rest of her teammates, but instead, the very person she least wanted to see walked in a few long strides to her bedside and sat on her bed.

"You're kidding, right?" she crossed her arms at Marcus Flint. "What _more_ do you want from me? I get it, okay? You proved that you're physically stronger than me, which was pretty obvious to begin with. Now can you please get _out _before I hex you out of here?"

"How are you going to do that? You can barely lift yourself off this bed as it is," he chuckled, smirking with his horrendously crooked teeth.

"If you came here to make fun of me, you'll have more opportunities to do that," Katie huffed. "_What_ are you doing here?"

"If you must know, I came to…apologize."

"You?" she was incredulous. "Apologize? I would have never thought."

"All you know about me has come from Oliver Wood," he said viciously, getting close to her face. "That arrogant arse you have for a captain."

"Don't you _dare _talk about Oliver," Katie began, sitting up as far as her small, currently frail body would allow her.

"I will talk about him as I _please_, little girl," he sneered. "Now, do you want me to apologize or not?"

Katie pursed her lips. "You don't seem like the type to apologize to anyone," she said thoughtfully. "But if you absolutely swear that you mean it, I guess I'll accept it."

"Fair enough," his tone changed slightly and was slightly kinder, but not by much. "I was harsh on you. I didn't mean to hurt you that badly. It's just the way we play, really. We're pretty brutal." He paused.

"Why did you do it? And what do you have against me?" Katie asked, trying not to cry.

"I don't know, instinct, I guess." he said. He reached out to touch her arm. She pulled it back quickly. "Relax, I won't do anything." That smirk was back.

_Quit messing with me_, Katie wanted to scream, but she was too weak. Instead, she slowly extended her arm again next to her. He placed a hand on her forearm and left it there, stroking her forearm with his thumb. Surprisingly to her, it felt somewhat nice. "I have nothing against you, by the way. And I mean that."

"If that's the case," she looked down on the floor. "Why are you so mean to me?"

"Are you really that afraid of me?" he raised his eyebrows. Flint knew he had that effect on people. It was a habit for him, but he couldn't help it. His family was like that too; they had been known to exert their power through any means possible, so it had been engrained in him from birth.

Katie _was_ afraid of him, but she didn't want to admit it. "Yes," she finally said. "You're unpredictable. You're rude. And you think you're better than all of us."

"Nothing I haven't heard before," he shrugged.

"But," she continued. "I think you could be pretty nice if you took the time to do it."

Marcus was taken by surprise. "Now that's a first."

"I never thanked you properly from saving me from Snape that one day," she said. "So thank you. If it weren't for you, I would've gotten at least thirty House points taken away, and probably detention too."

He breathed in and out a few times. "You know, for a Gryffindor, you're not that bad."

"You're pretty decent for a Slytherin," she returned with a small smile.

"Are you going to be okay?" he asked. Katie could sense a small hint of genuine concern for her.

"Yeah, I think I'll be out by tonight," she nodded.

Marcus got up from the bed and patted her on her shoulder. "And if Wood or anyone on your team asks, I didn't touch you, alright?"

"Alright," she said. As he walked out, she called out. "Wait!"

He turned. "What do you want now?" his usual self had resurfaced.

"Thanks for coming by," Katie said shyly. "I appreciate it."

He stopped. Nobody ever really thanked him for anything before. "Sure," he nodded curtly before leaving. He couldn't let his teammates catch him with the little twelve-year-old Gryffindor, and he definitely couldn't let her know just how much she was fascinating him.

* * *

Okay, okay, I know Marcus is kind of out of character here, and this chapter's pretty short, but I will tell you it sets up their relationship (not necessarily romantic yet) for the rest of the story, and I will do all I can to make sure the story isn't TOO similar to the other Marcus/Katie stories out there!


	4. Chapter 4

Disclaimer: Don't own anything! If I did, these characters would be way more explored in the series!

* * *

Gryffindor continued to succeed and made it to the finals, but lost to Ravenclaw, much to Katie's dismay. But that was because they didn't have Harry with them, she figured. He was too busy being heroic to help them win the Cup. She secretly didn't blame him, though. After all, he did survive against Voldemort as a baby; it was only right for him to seek closure once and for all. So that was why Professor Quirrell was acting so weird all year, she thought. You-Know-Who was hiding behind his damn head the whole time. But that was the furthest thing from her mind. But how Harry could have known what he was doing the whole time was beyond her.

She had no time to worry about Potter, however; finals were quickly approaching. Katie was most worried about her Potions and Transfiguration ones, for they were her toughest subjects. She spent late nights in the library after hours of studying, since the Gryffindor Common Room was too noisy for her. She felt as though she were pulling a Hermione Granger; she called it this because Granger was in fact the brightest witch of the first-years.

Professor Snape had been exceptionally grumpy that last week and had assigned a last-minute four-foot essay about the uses and effects of a Sleeping Draught to be due the next day. On top of that, she hadn't quite mastered her Cleaning Charm for Professor Flitwick. She groaned in frustration and started banging her head on the library table when she heard footsteps coming toward her.

She gasped and whipped out her wand, knocking her ink bottle over in the process, ruining the foot and a half out of four of Snape's essay. "This is just great," she fumed.

"Isn't it rather late for a second-year to be out?" Marcus Flint's figure popped out from a nearby aisle of bookshelves. He was smirking, as usual.

"I have an essay to finish and a ruined piece of parchment," Katie didn't look up. "Besides, you scared me."

"Did I really?" A wicked smile spread on his face for a few seconds. "Oh well, the point is, it's not safe for you to be out at this hour."

"Aren't you out late yourself?" Katie was both shocked and happy that he seemed to care for her safety.

"Yes, but unlike you, I'm smart enough not to get caught," he sneered.

"Getting caught by an older student doesn't count," she insisted.

"Hurry up and pack your things before Filch catches us," he said calmly, but with a threatening undertone.

"And what about my essay?"

"I'm sure you'll find some way to get it done," he said shortly. "Now hurry up."

He kept a hand protectively on her back as he guided through the corridors. "Which way is your common room?" he asked her.

"Um, I think it's that way," Katie was unsure when it was dark; she had never been out after hours until now. "I can't really tell. It's kind of dark."

"Lumos," Flint muttered, and a small tip of light appeared from the tip of his wand. "Better?"

She nodded. "Thanks." When he wasn't surrounded by Slytherins, Katie found that he could actually be…decent.

When they finally reached the Gryffindor corridor, she turned to him. As a last gesture of thanks, she wrapped her arms around his lower back. He returned it, patting her back lightly. "Thank you, Marcus," she called him by his first name for the first time.

"Have a good night, Katie Bell."

Everyone was already in bed by the time she entered the common room, so she positioned herself next to the fireplace. "Hmm, well I obviously can't use the ruined part of this," she thought aloud, ripping the foot and a half off. That left her two and a half feet of parchment. "I wonder if he'll take points off for writing on the back side. I hope he knows his math." She wearily dipped her quill into what was left of her ink bottle and began writing. When she got to the back side she carefully measured a foot from the end of the paper to signal where she would stop writing. She silently thanked her parents for sending her to a Muggle primary school before Hogwarts, despite her pureblood heritage.

* * *

"Miss Bell, what part of four feet did you not understand?" Professor Snape demanded softly at her, while she was seated in the front row.

"I did do four feet, Sir," she answered. "If you'll look on the back, I did the last foot and a half there. My parchment was soiled, you see, so I had to improvise."

"Ten points from Gryffindor, Bell," he said dismissively.

"But I spent hours on that!"

"Do I look like I care?" Snape's face was inches from hers. "You do know how close you are to failing this class, am I correct?"

"Y-y-yes," stammered Katie. "I try, Professor, I really do.

"Well try harder, Miss Bell. At your rate you will need a miracle to even pass my final tomorrow." She ran out of the room as fast as she could, crying.

* * *

Meanwhile, Marcus Flint and his Quidditch buddies leaned against the corridor walls, laughing and jeering at other non-Slytherin students that walked by.

"Blown up something else, I see," Adrian Pucey, his best friend, sneered at Seamus Finnigan, who had probably had another accident during Charms class.

Marcus laughed along with his friends, but his attention was quickly drawn to the little blond twelve-year-old practically running down the corridor, her face as red as a tomato, that he immediately recognized as Katie Bell. A part of him wanted to follow, comfort, and ask her what was wrong, but the other part reminded him of his reputation and the social consequences of a Slytherin associating with a Gryffindor.

"Looks like someone's still pissy about losing to the birds," Adrian chuckled to himself.

Flint just smirked along, going along with him, but deep down, he felt bad. He knew it was more than just Quidditch she was upset about, although _what_ it actually was, he didn't know.

After much mental debate, he decided he would find her when he could and see what happened.

She was nowhere to be found after lunch. He wanted to avoid asking her Quidditch teammates as much as possible, since he knew they probably would probably grow suspicious. As far as they were concerned, Marcus Flint was that bloody arse Quidditch captain from Slytherin.

He grunted under his breath as he spotted Angelina Johnson, the fieriest of the three girls.

"Yes?" she turned on him.

"Where's Bell?" He mentally smacked himself on the head for his poor choice of words but maintained an emotionless face.

"What do you want with her?" she was getting suspicious.

"I…need to talk to her," Flint hesitantly answered.

"What about?"

"Does it matter?"

"Yes it does, Flint, she's like my sister," Angelina was taller than Katie, but she still paled by size in comparison to him. "If you hurt her…"

"If you must know, I saw her crying in the corridor sometime before lunch," he was getting impatient.

"Why do _you_ care?" she raised her eyebrows.

"I won't hurt her, alright?"

"Maybe you won't, but either way, I haven't seen her," she said finally. "And I'm not saying this because I don't want you to. She didn't show up to lunch."

"If you see her, can you tell her?"

Her eyes narrowed at him, but she nodded. "But I'm warning you..."

"I think you made that quite clear, thank you," he cut her off. "Now if you will excuse me…" He headed off to find his friends again.

* * *

So...Marcus is quite unpredictable, isn't he? One minute he's cocky, the next minute he gets protective. Oh well, time will tell what his true feelings are...and it looks like this will be quite a long story by the way things are turning out.


	5. Chapter 5

**Disclaimer**: All Harry Potter-affiliated material belongs to the brilliant JK Rowling.

This chapter took me a little longer to write since I kept changing things. It was a tough one to write. At first, my original plan was to have Marcus help Katie with Potions in the library, but I was afraid of making him _too_ nice, so I came up with this instead. And even if it might look like it in the end, no this story is nowhere near done, so there will be plenty more Katie/Marcus goodness to come :) Enjoy!

* * *

Meanwhile, Katie had hidden herself in the Gryffindor common room, crying into her Potions book, hitting herself repeatedly in the head with it. "How am I going to pass this stupid class?" she wondered aloud. She smiled when she saw Angelina and Alicia come out of the portrait hole.

"Katie! We've been looking for you!" Alicia gave her a hug. "You didn't come to lunch."

"Not to mention Flint is looking for you," Angelina grumbled.

Her insides fluttered a bit. _But why?_ She wondered. _He's mean, scary, has terrible teeth, seems to be everywhere I am, and hurt me during Quidditch_. But another part of her answered, _He might not be as bad as he appears. After all, who do you think sent you those roses? Who got you out of detention with Snape_? "Oh," she finally answered. "Why?"

"I don't know, he wouldn't say," she shrugged. "I was against the idea, of course, but it's your choice."

She nodded and got up. "I'll see you guys later."

He wasn't entirely difficult to find. He was rather predictable, on the contrary; loitering in the corridor with his little Slytherin gang being obnoxious and finding something (or someone) to make fun of. She approached him with caution. Even if he was somewhat nice to her, she didn't expect that of him with his friends. She slowly walked across the corridor, making no eye contact. They were bound to notice her for sure.

"Well, well, well, if it isn't little Katie Bell," one of them sneered. "How was that last match?"

"Oh it was an easy win for Ravenclaw, with us playing only six people," Katie smiled sweetly. "How did it feel losing to Hufflepuff?" Two can play at that game, she thought slyly.

"Why you little…" another one of them started towards her, attempting to attack her.

"Stop," Marcus stepped in front of him. "Allow me."

He stepped towards her and pushed her toward the wall on the other side of the hallway, where he lifted her by her collar and pinned her to the wall by her shoulders. "What the fuck are you doing here?" he growled.

"Angelina said you were looking for me," she said quietly, tears building up.

"Screw what she said. What did you learn today?" he snarled.

"Not to insult a Slytherin," she said in a small voice.

He didn't say anything in return, but instead gave Katie a cold stare with no intentions of letting her go.

"Excuse me, Mr. Flint, but what do you think you're doing with Miss Bell?" Professor McGonagall was standing three feet behind Marcus with a stern look on her face.

At that, he lifted his shoulders off Katie and she fell to the ground. "Nothing, Professor."

"Your actions certainly told me otherwise," her tone did not change; if ever, it got harsher. "Fifty points from Slytherin for assaulting a younger student and detention until the end of the term. And I highly suggest you apologize to Miss Bell."

Katie looked up at him, visibly hurt. Any ounce of trust or positive feelings of him had gone down the drain in less than a minute. She slowly got back up and walked away, determined not to cry yet again.

With some help from her friend Leanne, Katie managed to get an E on her potions final to pass potions with an A and an A on her Transfiguration final, with O's and E's on the rest.

* * *

On the train ride back to Platform Nine and Three Quarters, Katie told them about her encounter on her way to the library. "So Flint _attacked _you?" Alicia was shocked. "Wow, I always knew he was a bastard, but that was just cruel."

"Absolutely," Angelina agreed. "Tell us, Katie, what do you need us to do?"

"You guys are exaggerating," she said nervously. "It wasn't as bad as you're thinking. And I don't want you to do anything. It's just going to make it worse." She added, "Besides, who knows what Flint would do to you guys next?"

"Speaking of the troll," Angelina glared at Flint, who was standing outside the girls' compartment.

"I need to talk to Bell," he said rather gruffly. Katie could not read his face.

"Oh no, you won't," Angelina stood up. "If you have anything to say to her, you're gonna say it in front of all of us."

"What you did to Katie was wrong, Flint," Alicia added. "You had no right to do that to her."

"Katie," he looked in her direction, "can I talk to you?"

Katie froze. The last time he called her by her first name, he had been kind to her, even if it was in a tough sort of way. Her instincts told her he would not attempt to hurt her again, but her head was having second thoughts. However, her instincts won, and she nodded.

Marcus closed the door behind her, while Katie stood in front of him, bouncing up and down on the balls of her feet. He knelt down so that he was level with her and placed his large hands on his shoulders, holding them gently.

"Why did you do it?" Katie said quietly as her clear blue eyes began to water.

He sighed. "My image," he said. "As stupid as that may sound to you, it's the truth."

"When you visited me in the Hospital Wing," her voice was barely audible now. "You said you had nothing against me. Did you really mean that?"

"Yes," he answered solemnly. "When I grabbed you, I only meant to scare you a bit. I didn't realize you would get hurt. I regretted it right when I got caught by McGonagall."

Katie bit her lip, unsure what to make of what he had just said. "I don't understand you, Flint," she said, her voice wobbly. "One minute you act like you hate me, next you're looking out for me, and then you turn around and hurt me. I don't know what to make of you!" She began sobbing.

"Katie," he rubbed her shoulders with his thumbs. When he saw that that wasn't working, he gently pulled her into his strong arms and held her. If Marcus Flint had any weakness, it was a crying girl, especially a younger one. "Katie, I am so sorry. It was incredibly wrong of me, no matter what my intentions were. I know it's hard for you to believe me, but I truly do not mean to harm you, whether it's during or outside of Quidditch." She hesitantly hugged him back, her hold growing stronger the more she absorbed what he was saying. "I care about you, Katie. I don't like seeing you like this. Could you find it in you to forgive me? Please?" As he spoke those last words, he found that he had tears of his own streaming down his cheeks.

She shook in tears against his rock hard chest, and Marcus just held her tighter, rubbing her back soothingly. "Yes," she finally whispered. "But please…don't hurt me again. I don't think I'd be able to take it next time."

"Never," he promised. Katie still wept, but this time tears of happiness. He slowly got her off his chest and used the sleeve of his robe to wipe her face dry. Through her many tear stains, she smiled and wrapped her lean arms around his neck.

"Oh my God, how long does it take to _apologize_?" Angelina slammed open the compartment door to see her best friend and Quidditch sister with her arms wrapped around Marcus Flint.

"Katie!" she shrieked, pulling her off him. "What do you think you're doing?"

"Angie, stop," Katie said firmly. "Marcus and I are okay now."

"So I take it he really apologized to you?" Alicia was in shock.

She nodded.

"As much as we may not like him," Alicia said. "We believe you."

"But we're watching him," Angelina glared at him.

Katie laughed and hugged her Quidditch sisters. "I love you girls." While doing so, she took one last look at Flint, who gave her a small, toothless smile and nodded at her, before leaving.


	6. Chapter 6

Disclaimer: All Harry Potter material belongs to JK Rowling! Not me!  
So we are now in Katie's third year (Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets). Katie is 13, while Flint is 17. If you guys have noticed, I'm trying to keep their interaction as age appropriate as possible for now, since Katie is considerably younger than Marcus. Don't worry, there will be more action as Katie gets older. Enjoy :)

* * *

Katie groaned as Oliver Wood droned on and on about all the new plays and strategies for the upcoming season. "We're going to continue to train four hours a day, but we will break it up this year; five-thirty sharp for the mornings, and twelve hours later for the evenings. However, each practice will be twice the intensity; we _will _win the Quidditch cup this year." He was bordering on obsession, she thought. She just shook her head and followed the rest of her teammates out onto the pitch.

"Where do you think you're going, Flint?" Wood called out as the Slytherins came onto the field. "The pitch is ours for the next two hours."

"Not for long," Flint smirked. "I've got a note." He slammed it into Wood's palm.

"New Seeker my arse," Wood hissed, throwing it back at Flint. "Who?"

Draco Malfoy stepped forward. Katie worked hard to keep a straight face; her family and the Malfoys had always been at odds with each other for as long as she could remember. Draco's father, Lucius, hated the fact that her parents had sent her to a Muggle primary school prior to Hogwarts and considered them blood traitors.

"You?" Katie whispered.

"That's right, Bell," he said quietly, his face an inch away from hers. "And there's nothing your pathetic, Mudblood-loving father can do about it."

"I'm not afraid of you, Malfoy," Katie said coldly.

"We'll see about that," he said. He turned to Potter. "And I'm not all that's new this year, Potter." He stroked his Nimbus 2001 like a baby, smirking.

"At least nobody on Gryffindor had to buy their way in," Katie hadn't noticed Hermione Granger and Ron Weasley approaching them. Katie smiled. She admired Hermione for both her smarts and her courage. "They got in on pure talent."

"Nobody was asking _you_," Malfoy faced her fully, "you filthy little Mudblood."

Katie watched as a fight ensued between the boys on their team and the Slytherins. She cringed as she watched Marcus attempt to break up a fight ensuing between the twins and Malfoy, as well as Oliver breaking up a fight between Angelina and Alicia and Warrington and Pucey, the latter that she recognized as Flint's friends who had taunted her last year.

As much as she had been tempted to join in, Katie knew better. Angelina was the fiery, quick-tempered one, and Alicia just went along with her; as for Katie, she was more of a passive-aggressive type; she would take her rage out on the Quidditch field instead of in person against the big, nasty Slytherins. Her face contorted in disgust as she saw that the fight had ended with Ron Weasley barfing up slugs.

Since Slytherin ultimately won for control of the pitch, the latter half of Quidditch practice for Gryffindor had been cancelled. That didn't stop Katie from spying on them, however. After changing out of her Quidditch robes into her casual weekend clothes, she positioned herself in the Slytherin section on the lowest level, so as to be as inconspicuous as possible.

As much as she did not appreciate Flint's rough, physical style of playing, she could not deny that he was talented. She watched in awe as Flint did a series of tricky maneuvers, passing to his other chasers while keeping his eyes on the goal posts. She made mental notes of their new moves, while outwardly admiring them; she had such a difficult time keeping a smile from spreading across her face that she had to leave.

"Spying on us, Bell?" Katie turned around to see Flint, standing behind her, sweaty and wearing his oh-so-fabulous smirk. He had taken off his Quidditch robes and was simply standing there in the green and sliver cable-knit sweater worn under the robes and white pants. His sweater hugged his body in all the right places; she couldn't help but stare at his chiseled abdominal muscles and overall upper body.

Katie swallowed. There was no getting out of this one; she was no Slytherin, after all. "No," she finally said. She blushed. Luckily it was dark enough for him not to see. She was somewhat telling the truth; she had come to spy, but with no intents of analyzing their plays.

"Eh, it's not like I don't expect one of your lot every now and then," he shrugged. She was amazed that he wasn't out to break her jaw for it, even if they had made up on the Hogwarts Express last summer. "Hell, I'd expect one of them gingers, or sometimes Wood, but certainly not you."

"Wood didn't send me," Katie said suddenly, a little more bluntly than she would have wanted.

"No?" He raised his eyebrows. "Then what were you doing here?"

"I," she licked her lips, trying to find her words without giggling like a crazed little fan girl. "I came to watch _you_, actually."

Marcus laughed. But this time, it wasn't mean, or spiteful. It was a genuine, loud, hearty laugh. "And? What do you think?"

"As rough as you and your team are," she answered bluntly. "I can't deny that you're talented."

"_Thank_ you, I'm touched," he said sarcastically. But he added in a serious voice, "Really though, thanks."

Katie shrugged, smiling shyly. As she turned to walk back towards the castle, she felt an arm coming around her. "It's getting dark," he said, pulling her into him. "I wouldn't want you getting hurt on the way back."

"That's nice of you," she answered politely. "Thank you."

"Tell you what," he said as they were walking. "What time is your practice tomorrow?"

"Morning or night?"

"You have them _twice_?" Flint was incredulous. "Damn, I need to work my team harder."

"It's just one practice, really," Katie explained. "It's broken up into 2 parts."

"I see," he said. "Well, I suppose your night practice then. What time?"

"Five-thirty," she answered, "for two hours. Why?"

"Meet me at the pitch at eight," he said.

"Alright, sure. What for, though?" Oh my, she thought. Did I just agree to meet Marcus Flint alone on the Quidditch pitch?

"Come and find out," Katie sensed a hint of playfulness in his voice.

"Will do," she said uncertainly, as they finally arrived. "What should I wear, though? Quidditch robes?"

"Sure," he shrugged. "I don't know, whatever's comfortable, I guess."

"Okay," Katie was smiling, secretly excited.

"Of course," Marcus leaned down and planted a soft kiss on her cheek. "I'm sure your teammates would kill me for that."

She let out a giggle as her face turned pink. "It can be our little secret," she said.

* * *

Dun dun duuuuuun :) I hope you're as excited for the next chapter as I am!


	7. Chapter 7

**Disclaimer**: I don't own Harry Potter!  
Okay, so this chapter and the next were supposed to be one really long one, but it was getting to be a little long, so I broke it up. Enjoy!

* * *

"Katie, hurry up! We're going to be late for dinner!" Alicia called from outside the Gryffindor Quidditch locker room.

"You guys go on without me," she answered, as she finished putting her hair in a side braid. "There's something I have to take care of."

"We'll save you a seat, okay?"

"No need," Katie shook her head quickly. "This might take awhile. See you guys later!"

"What's up?" Angelina popped her head in. "Need help with something?"

"No, no, thank you though," Katie said. Ugh, I'm such a bad liar, she thought. "I'll be fine; I promise. I'll see you guys at the common room."

It took a good five more minutes before Katie finally managed to get them to leave. She glanced at her watch: 7:55. "Shit, shit, _shit_!" She scrambled into her pale pink sweater and dark blue jeans, quickly fastened her cloak and dashed out the door.

By the time she had reached the Quidditch pitch, she was out of breath. She panted heavily, her breaths white as snow against the blackness of the atmosphere. "Where are you, Flint?" she said aloud after about five minutes. "It's freezing out here."

As if on cue, she heard a broomstick flying around above her, as well as a speck of green. When Marcus landed, she scowled, crossing her arms. "You were here _all this time_?" she said, shivering. Katie tried her hardest to be mad at him, but the biting cold was keeping her from doing so.

"It took several hexes to get those idiots," she assumed he was referring to his fellow Slytherin gang members, "to bugger off."

"I'll take that as an apology," she said stiffly, sniffling. "For the record, it took my friends awhile to leave, too. But what did you want to meet here for?"

Flint smiled and held out his Nimbus 2001 to her. "Get on."

Katie gasped. "But it's yours…"

"Just get on it, will you?" he was getting impatient, but not in an unkind way. "You're not the only one cold here."

She hesitantly took it and mounted it while Marcus climbed on behind her. "Now go on, kick off," he said.

Katie closed her eyes and pushed off from the ground as hard as she could. Her eyes widened as her body flew backwards, crashing into Marcus Flint, who grabbed her by her waist. In a split second, they were flying at nearly sixty miles per hour.

"Don't worry, I got you," he assured her.

She grasped the handle as firmly as she could and maneuvered it to the best of her ability. "Where are we going?" she called out.

"Hold on," he called back, and placed his hands on top of hers and tilted it upward. They were about ten feet higher in the air, and they had a majestic view of the Hogwarts school grounds. Marcus felt Katie's demeanor relax a little. "Like the view?"

"It's beautiful," she sighed. "Everything about it is perfect."

"Thought you might like it," he said with a grin that showed off his horrible teeth. Even so, it was a genuine grin - one that many people, especially Gryffindors, did not see very often. "I come up here sometimes when I need to get away from everything. It's not all that easy being one of the most hated people in school, you know."

Katie turned to look at him. "I don't hate you."

Marcus raised his dark, thick eyebrows.

"I'm serious," she said. "You may have driven me nuts from the very moment I met you, but I just can't hate you after what you've done for me."

"I see," he nodded after processing her words. "Don't take this the wrong way, Katie, but I like you. You're the only person in the seven years I've been here that's been nice to me even if I haven't always been that great to you. With that said," he steered his broom in the direction of Hogsmeade, "I guess you could look at this as a thank you."

* * *

They landed at the platform of the Hogwarts Express station, and Marcus lent a hand to Katie, helping her off his broom. "What are we doing here?" she looked around, confused.

"Come on," he gestured for her to follow him. "This way."

Marcus guided Katie along a longer trail to Hogsmeade, keeping her in front of him the whole way. "Close your eyes," he instructed her as they approached the gate.

"Why?" Katie looked at him suspiciously.

"Do you trust me?"

"Um…yes."

He covered her eyes with his large hands and prodded her forward.

Marcus kept on the watch for any staff members, for students were not allowed out to Hogsmeade during the week. After a few more minutes of walking, he guided her into the Three Broomsticks and uncovered her eyes.

"We're in…we're in the Three Broomsticks!" Katie's face lit up. "I love this place! Angie, Ali and I come here all the time!" Suddenly, worry spread across her face. "But Marcus, we could get in trouble. We're only allowed here on certain weekends!"

"Come on, Bell, have a little fun," he smiled. "You're starting to sound like a Hufflepuff."

"One of my best friends is a Hufflepuff," she said indignantly, referring to Leanne.

Marcus chuckled. "Whatever." He led her to a table in a corner where they could easily hide should teachers arrive, and Katie sat across from him, still slightly uncomfortable with the situation. She took off her cloak and hugged herself, still thawing from the cold. "Lighten up, Katie," he smiled gently at her. "Here, let's get something to eat, since we both clearly haven't eaten yet. What do you want? Don't worry, it's on me."

"Thanks," she smiled. "Um, I'll have a butterbeer and the fried chicken combo."

"Good choices," he said. "I'm getting the same thing." He relayed their order to the waiter.

"I thought they only served fried chicken in the Muggle world," Katie wondered out loud, remembering a place called Kentucky Fried Chicken that her parents had taken her to during a business trip to the United States when she was younger.

He shook her head. "You'll find we have our own versions of their same foods. Ours is more generic, obviously, but it's pretty close. Are you Muggle-born?"

That question took her by surprise. "No, both my parents are wizards," she answered. "My dad works for the Department of International Magical Cooperation, and my mum is a stay-at-home mother."

"I see," he nodded. "My dad left my mother after I was born, and I was practically raised by a nanny while my mother fulfilled her dream of starting her own jewelry company. She's quite a brilliant woman, as her business is very successful, although it would have been nice to see her more often."

"I'm so sorry to hear that," Katie said quietly.

"Here you are," the waiter arrived with their food and butterbeers. "Enjoy!"

"Thank you," they said in unison.

Katie took a bite into her fried chicken and poured gravy on her mashed potatoes. It had been awhile since she had that, since her mom always made sure the family was eating healthy.

Soon, the two Quidditch Chasers were talking and laughing as though they did not play for rival houses and as if they had known each other for years. Katie found it nice to see Marcus not making fun of anybody or being cruel for once and simply letting loose and having fun, but she couldn't blame him with his rocky childhood.

"Um," Marcus said after they had both stopped laughing. "You've got some stuff on your mouth. Right there," he gestured to his upper lip.

Katie turned bright red and looked at herself on the back of her spoon. She quickly brought a napkin up to wipe it, giggling nervously.

Marcus chuckled. Suddenly, he stopped, as he heard several people walking into the Three Broomsticks: Professors McGonagall, Sprout and Snape; as well as Headmaster Dumbledore himself. He motioned for Katie to duck down as low as possible.

"What's going on?" she whispered.

He brought a finger to her lips and gestured to the Hogwarts staff members, who were now in an intense conversation.

"How can this be?" they could hear Professor McGonagall saying. "Should we have foreseen this?"

"No, absolutely not," Dumbledore replied. "However, I am convinced that Filch's cat will not be the first of the sort to happen."

"But what are we to do?" McGonagall said. "We can't just sit here and do nothing."

"This is only the first one, Minerva," Snape replied. "We don't know who or what caused Mrs. Norris to be petrified. As of now, the next victim could be anyone."

"But the Chamber of Secrets?" Professor Sprout now spoke. "It's impossible…"

"Not impossible," Dumbledore corrected her, "but highly improbable and most definitely unforeseen. As for now, we must set the curfew earlier for everyone, and we will have a teacher patrolling every corridor of the school until we find out what caused this."

Katie had read about the Chamber of Secrets in _Hogwarts, A History_; it was only a legend, it had said. But the monster within the said chamber allegedly killed off all the Muggle-born witches and wizards in the school fifty years ago. Her instincts told her that whatever had happened up at the school was no joke. Even though she was a pureblood, a few of her friends were Muggle-born – one of them being Alicia Spinnet – and she now feared for their lives.


	8. Chapter 8

Same disclaimers apply!

* * *

"What's the matter?" Marcus turned to Katie, whose face was stark white, after the teachers had left and were clear from their sight.

"Marcus, have you read about the Chamber of Secrets?" she asked quietly.

"No, but I've heard of it," he replied. "It's just a myth."

"I don't know," she said sadly. "It's in _Hogwarts, A History_." She proceeded to tell him the entire legend.

Afterwards, he got up and sat beside her, putting an arm around her. "Look, whatever the monster is, you're a pureblood. It won't hurt you," he assured her. "So why are you so worried? Just watch your back, that's all."

"Some of my closest friends are Muggle-born," she began sobbing. "I don't want them to get hurt! Unlike your lot, I care about _others _as well as myself!"

Marcus sensed that he'd just hit a nerve. "Let's talk more outside." He grabbed her roughly by her upper arm, put some money on the table, and dragged her outside, where he sat her on a nearby bench.

"Let me clear things up for you, since there are some things that you obviously don't know," he attempted to stay calm and controlled, even though he was livid. "First off, while it is true that we primarily look out for ourselves, it does _not_ mean that we are heartless! Sure, our reputations have had to suffer thanks to a handful of people's choices, but have you ever thought that maybe your view of us is biased?" He had managed to stay calm, but his voice now had a menacing undertone to it.

"Y-y-yes, but…"

"I'm not done," he cut her off harshly. "Also, while there are a lot of us that are pureblood supremacists, it doesn't mean that _all_ of us are. I'm not. We have to go along with it, or we risk being disowned and branded as traitors. And let me tell you something, Katie Bell: having a sense of self-preservation doesn't mean you don't care! It means you know how to look after yourself! That's something you _Gryffindors_ don't seem to get. You're too preoccupied trying to save the world that you forget about saving yourselves."

Katie crossed her arms in a huff and a scowl. The Gryffindor in her did not want to admit that he was right and she was wrong. "I'm sorry," she whispered.

"We should get back before we get caught," Marcus pulled her up and put her on his broom. "You know the way back?"

"I think so," she answered in a small voice, still unsettled by his rant.

"Lead the way, then." He wrapped his arms around her waist.

Katie was still slightly discomforted at flying a broom that wasn't hers, even if she was allowed the privilege. To top it off, Flint's Nimbus 2001 was everything that hers wasn't; smooth, fast, and easily controllable. Because it was so fast, she had to tighten her grip on the broom to control it properly. She gripped it so tightly, that she did not notice her knuckles turning white.

"You have to be one with it, Katie," Marcus explained. "_You_ control _it_, not the other way around. You're flying like you've never been on a broomstick before."

"Well, we aren't all blessed with brooms that can go at sixty miles an hour," she answered wryly.

"You can thank Malfoy's father for that." Katie could sense a smirk in his voice.

"Malfoy," she muttered, shaking her head and rolling her eyes at the mention of the little brat's name. She remembered when her father would bring her along to Malfoy Manor when he'd have business to take care of with Lucius Malfoy and she'd be stuck with Draco. He was a stuck-up, selfish prat as far as she was concerned; all he ever did was brag about how good he was at flying or how he was the purest of pure.

"I can't stand the little prat either," he admitted, "but there's no stopping us now with these babies." He reached over her shoulder and tapped the handle proudly.

"Ugh."

Marcus laughed. "I'd love to see you Gryffs beat us now."

"Please," Katie waved her hand dismissively. "It's not _all _about the brooms. At least we don't have to hurt people in order to win Quidditch matches." She was referring to when they would trample over Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw.

He steered the broom towards the Slytherin locker room and tucked it safely into the broom shed. "What time is it?"

"9:30," she asked. "Why?"

"Well, it looks like we're out thirty minutes past curfew," he said. "What do you want to do?"

"Um, I want to go to my common room," she said simply. "Angie and Ali are probably worried sick."

"Look," he bent down lower so that he could whisper. "If I take you back now, we're both going to get caught. Chances are, there are teachers everywhere if that attack on Filch's cat really did happen. You have a better chance of making it in by staying on the down low."

Katie caught what he was implying in a split second. "No, no, NO! Absolutely not!"

"Not afraid of the big, bad snakes, are you?" he sneered.

She opened and closed her mouth. "No," she finally said, although her lie was pretty obvious.

"Alright, I'll just leave you here to get caught and get detention, then," he shrugged. "Later, Bell." With a swish of his Quidditch robes, he turned.

Oh bloody hell, she thought. I might as well. "Wait!" she ran to catch up with him.

He smiled slyly and patted her on the head. "That's what I thought. Way to preserve yourself, Bell."

"But what about my things?" she asked. "How do you propose I get them, hm?"

"Oh." He stopped to notice that she had been in her weekend clothes all that time. "Don't you have Quidditch practice tomorrow morning?"

"Oh, that's right! I left them in the locker rooms before meeting you." She sighed in relief. "Okay, I'm good now."

He led her about six flights of stairs below the school before reaching a blank, sandy-colored wall.

"Salazar," he muttered, and the wall transformed into a door and swung open. Marcus brusquely led her in by her wrist.

"Oh, what have I gotten myself into?" Katie braced herself for what she predicted was going to be absolute hell.

* * *

So it looks like Katie is going to be spending quality time with the Slytherins...who knows how that's going to turn out...


	9. Chapter 9

Disclaimer: Harry Potter is **not**, under any conditions, **mine**!  
What happens when a Gryffindor enters Slytherin grounds? Read and find out. Enjoy :)

* * *

The Slytherin common room was lavishly decorated with black leather couches, mahogany furniture with a modern vintage flair, a few lounge chairs, and deep emerald green rugs against the granite floor. It was rather dimly lit by emerald green wall lights, giving it a slightly creepy feel. Since the Slytherin dungeon was located under the school, there were no windows anywhere, so this feature gave the dungeon a perpetual grim, cold atmosphere.

There were several students still awake, most of them being fifth years or above. A group of girls around her age were giggling in the corner and pointing and random boys. Probably gossiping, Katie thought. There were a few crouched in the corner playing Wizard's Chess. Marcus inconspicuously led her towards a relatively group of older Slytherin guys having what looked like an Exploding Snap tournament.

Upon noticing Katie, they all stopped playing. At first, they couldn't believe their eyes: a _Gryffindor_, a third-year at that, in Slytherin territory.

"Flint," a boy significantly smaller in build than the rest of them, but nevertheless muscular and athletic, greeted him with a punch in the upper arm. Katie recognized him to be Adrian Pucey.

"Pucey," he nodded.

"So you leave us at dinner and you bring back a girl," one of Flint's other minions leered at her. "Very smooth. Want to tell us who you are, sweet cheeks?" He reached over to try and touch her hair, but Marcus quickly slapped his hand away.

"Lay a hand on her and it'll be your neck, Montague," he warned, glaring at him.

Katie got butterflies in her stomach, secretly thankful for Marcus. She looked around at all six of them nervously, unsure of what to say.

"So…what brings you down here to the snake den?" the one that Katie guessed was Warrington asked curiously. She only had an idea who he was because according to Alicia, Angelina secretly had a crush on him, but she wasn't supposed to know that.

"Um," Katie blinked her eyes slowly into focus. "My common room was too far, and I would've been caught trying to go back since there were so many teachers around, so Mar- I mean Flint," she only called him Marcus when it was just the two of them, "gave me the idea to come down here since it was closer and more…hidden."

"Smart move for a Gryffindor," Montague sneered.

"Alright, alright, everyone _shut it_," Flint roared. Everyone else in the common room turned to look at them. "What are you looking at?" he gave them all murderous stares. He turned back to his minions and henchmen. "Be nice to the girl. She's staying with us for the night. So unless you want to end up like Filch's cat, I'd suggest you don't try anything."

Although Marcus kept Katie next to him the entire time, she couldn't help but feel out of place as he got into it with his friends. They were loud, rowdy and – needless to say – drunk. Warrington had brought out the firewhiskey and they all had gone awry. They were either wrestling each other or laughing at the simplest sign of movement. She found it amusing, yes, and she even laughed a little bit, but she could not deny the awkwardness of the whole situation by her mere presence.

Adrian Pucey, who was the only sober one of the group, went over to Katie. "Are you alright?" he asked.

"Yeah, I'm fine," she nodded, not looking at him.

"You sure about that?"

"Yeah." She looked at the floor.

He bent his head around to look at her.

"No," she admitted. "I can't help but feel like I shouldn't be here, even if I've saved myself from detention."

"Well, you kind of are in Slytherin territory," he pointed out. He looked towards Marcus and the other older Slytherins. "That's normal for them. I've gotten used to it. Once the firewhiskey's out, there's no stopping them."

"I can see that," she said, disgusted at how they all were acting.

Warrington swaggered over to Katie after his seventh or eighth drink. She whimpered in fear as he climbed on top of her. "Care to join me, beau-"

Before he could finish, he barfed right onto her pink sweater. Half the group's faces contorted in disgust, while the other half doubled over in laughter. Marcus, however, was enraged. "You son of a bitch-" He started toward his friend and teammate.

But Katie, equally furious if not more, beat him to it. Hurt and humiliated, she punched Warrington square in the nose as hard as she could. It didn't do much damage to him, although he was both stunned at having been hit by a girl and incredibly wasted that he did not know how he had gotten on top of her in the first place.

"You're banned from the next game, Warrington. Do you hear me?" Flint spat on his face. He turned to a dirty-blond haired boy who was slowly recovering from the alcohol. "Higgs, can you play Chaser?"

"Anything to play again," he said.

"You're playing for Warrington next game," Flint said roughly, pushing him toward the dormitories. "Get yourself back in shape. I'll see you at the pitch bright and early tomorrow." Even under the influence of firewhiskey, he was still frightening.

"But _we_ have the pitch tomorrow, Flint," Katie reminded him.

"Not if I can help it," he answered viciously.

"Look," Pucey whispered to Katie. "I don't know what went on between you two earlier, but now isn't the best time to talk to Flint. Not when he's completely sloshed. Believe me; I've known him for ages."

"But I haven't a place to sleep," she pointed out. "And my clothes are filthy."

Adrian Pucey took out his wand and pointed it at her sweater. "Tergeo."

Her sweater was back to normal in an instant, but it did not take away the awful smell of the puke from Warrington's mouth.

"It should be alright by tomorrow," he said. "Did you bring anything to change into?"

She shook her head. "All my stuff is in the Gryffindor tower."

He looked around in thought. "I suppose you could borrow some stuff. Wait here."

* * *

Meanwhile, Marcus was washing up in the boys' lavatory, when Pucey came panting in. "Your girlfriend needs a change of clothes," he said matter-of-factly. "What do you plan to do about that?"

"She's not my girlfriend!" Flint growled, grabbing Pucey and holding him against the wall.

"Answer me!" Adrian answered back fiercely. As he had told Katie earlier, he had known Marcus Flint for a long time; they were practically brothers. Although Flint would bully him from time to time,he would have his back, no matter what. "You have to admit, though, she's a good one for you."

"Shut up!" he yelled. He sighed. "Go get her one of my shirts and trousers."

"But-"

"Just do it, Pucey, alright? We've got an early practice tomorrow."

"You really meant that?"

"Yes, I did," he said shortly. He knew that most of them would be entirely out of it at five-thirty in the morning, but it would prevent Katie from missing her practice and would allow her to sleep in a bit. "Now hurry up!"

"Why don't you do it?" Adrian crossed his arms. "After all, you _did _bring her here."

"I'm a fucking _mess_, Adrian," Marcus was exasperated. "I can't face her like this."

"Captain Flint is afraid of a little Gryffindor?" Pucey challenged him.

"Go to bed, Pucey," he commanded him, "and keep your nose out of my business."

He quickly grabbed a shirt and a pair of trousers from his trunk, knowing very well that they were much too large for her. The alcohol was finally starting to wear off, much to his relief. Unlike most of his team, he'd had just the right amount to have a little fun, but not to the point of puking.

Katie was sitting on the couch, staring blankly at the nearby wall when he made his way into the common room. Her hair was no longer in a braid as it had been earlier that night; it was now messy and tangled and hung loosely over her face. Her eyes were puffy and her nose was red; he could tell she had been crying. He immediately felt bad for leaving her out, although he was glad she stayed out of their drinking sessions. Marcus was well aware that some of his teammates were not above taking advantage of a drunk girl.

As he got closer, he could hear her sniffling. "I think I would've rather had detention," she said quietly.

"Katie," he wrapped his arms around her and held her tightly. "I'm so sorry about earlier; about Warrington. And I'm sorry for being a prat. Firewhiskey can have some undesirable side effects, even if I didn't have a lot myself." He held her face in his hands and gently stroked her cheeks.

"I felt like they were all watching me," she choked, "even though they weren't. I bet they all hate me even more now."

"It looked like you were getting on with Adrian okay," he said. "Was he treating you alright? I could punish him, you know."

"Yeah, he was fine," she nodded. "He kept me company while you were having…fun." She said the word fun with a sarcastic undertone.

"I'm glad," he said. He handed her the change of clothes. "I know this probably isn't as good as your Gryffindor tower, but if there's anything I can do…"

Katie stood up on the couch, kissed him on the cheek, and encircled her arms around his neck. "Thank you."

He smiled and lifted her off the couch. "Come along, there's an extra bed in my room."

"_Your _room?" she asked. "Don't you share it with others?"

"Being Quidditch Captain has its privileges," he smirked.

"Whatever you say," Katie rolled her eyes with a small smile and headed to the bathroom to change. She had a lot to mull over.

* * *

Okay, so I originally was going to have her kiss him on the lips, but she isn't that type of person, in my opinion. I see her as someone with a generally good head on her shoulders; she takes risks but knows her limits. And frankly, it's kind of gross for someone barely in their teens to kiss someone on the lips that's almost legally an adult. I'm definitely not portraying her that way. But they will kiss in time :) And to answer a question that is bound to come up: Adrian Pucey does not have any romantic feelings for Katie.

Thank you all so much for your reviews, I really appreciate the feedback I'm getting!


	10. Chapter 10

Disclaimer: I would explore Katie and/or Marcus a LOT more if Harry Potter were mine!  
Sorry I didn't update as quickly as I did last time. I've been sick the past couple days, sadly. But I hope you guys like it!

* * *

There had been a lot of tension leading up to the Gryffindor-Slytherin match. The Weasley twins had started a prank war with Warrington and Montague. Flint went back to making fun of Katie with his friends, although Pucey would sometimes wave to her in the corridors if he saw her. She didn't know what to make of the night she had spent in the Slytherin dungeon, and she certainly didn't know what to make of Marcus. No, he hadn't exactly hurt her, but seeing the way he was with his friends made her nauseous.

She also couldn't help but feel guilty about how irritable Wood was that entire week, even though their practice schedule was considerably more tolerable thanks to Flint and his team switching to five-thirty practices that entire week.

When the highly-anticipated match finally arrived, the Slytherins proved their superiority straight away with their new brooms. Gryffindor was losing by sixty points, much to their team's disgust. Slytherin played rough and dirty as always, although they seemed to slack whenever Katie had the Quaffle. It took Wood about half an hour to catch onto their strategy. "Hooch!" Wood called. "I need a time out!"

She nodded and blew her whistle. The Gryffindor team assembled at the bottom of the field near their goal posts.

"Okay, I don't know what's going on," Oliver was furious. "First, we have that damn Bludger that likes Potter a little too much. Then, it's like the whole Slytherin team won't even touch Bell over here, but they don't seem to have a problem getting dirty with everyone else."

"It's like they _fancy _her or something," Fred said thoughtfully. "Or maybe Flint does, since he calls all their plays."

Meanwhile, the Slytherins went into a huddle of their own, but instead of discussing strategy, they just pointed and jeered at the Gryffindors. Katie, taking advantage of her night in the Slytherin dungeon, gave them the meanest glare she could muster. They immediately backed off. She smirked and turned around again to listen to Wood's pep talk.

"Whatever," Wood dismissed him. "I may not like it much, but get the Quaffle to Bell, you two," he pointed at Angelina and Alicia. "It might be our only chance at getting a goal. As for you, Potter, what do you plan to do about that Bludger?"

"Look, I don't want it to affect our defense," Harry said. "I'll deal with it on my own."

"But-" The twins began protesting.

"You heard him," Wood said. "This may be our only chance of winning. Catch the snitch as quickly as you can, Potter."

They all nodded and resumed play.

Gryffindor ended up winning after Harry caught the Snitch, although he had to be sent to the Hospital Wing thanks to Lockhart removing all the bones in his arm to "spare him the pain".

* * *

"Katie, we need to talk," Angelina sat her down in the common room after their match against Slytherin.

"Sure, what about?" Katie pretended not to know what she was about to ask her.

"Look, we're worried about you," Alicia said. "You've been…disappearing…on us. You didn't come back that night you said you had to take care of something, and you weren't at breakfast the next day, either. Now that I think about it, I don't think we saw you at all. You got lucky though. We didn't have morning practice. Apparently Wood and Flint had a row on the pitch, and Wood ended up in the Hospital Wing. He was fine, obviously, but still. It's just…strange."

"Is there something you want to tell us?" Angelina cut in fiercely.

Katie bit her lip and turned her back to them. She really didn't know how to tell them about Flint. The other two girls knew that there was something between her and Marcus, but she wasn't sure how seriously they took it at the time. _Be brave, Katie_, a little voice in her head told her. _You were sorted into Gryffindor for a reason. If they're really your friends, they'll accept it_. Another voice said, _Maybe now isn't the right time. Perhaps you should sort things out with Flint before you say anything_.

"Katie?" Alicia put a hand on her shoulder.

"Just leave me alone, alright?" Katie snapped tearfully and ran up to her dormitory.

The other two Chasers looked at each other in confusion. "There's definitely something she isn't telling us," Angelina said, "and I'm going to do whatever it takes to find out what it is."

"Yeah, she's definitely hiding something," Alicia agreed. "But maybe there's a reason she isn't telling us."

"But why?" her friend demanded. "Doesn't she trust us?"

"Did you ever think that maybe she's afraid of what we'll say more than actually telling us?"

Angelina had nothing to say to that.

"Don't take this too harshly, Angie, but you can be a bit judgmental sometimes," Alicia said.

"Am not!" she denied indignantly.

"Whatever you say." Alicia got up from the couch. "I'm going to go talk to her."

"I'm coming with you."

"No," she stopped her friend. "I think I should do this one by myself."

Angelina fumed and got out her Transfiguration book to start her homework.

* * *

Katie sat on her bed with her chin on her knees, rocking back and forth. As much as she felt she should tell them, she didn't know how. She knew Alicia would probably understand, but she knew Angelina would get pissed and possibly drop her as a friend. Yes, they were both loyal, although Angelina was the harsher of the two.

"Katie?" a tan-skinned, dark-haired head popped in through the door.

"Not now, Ali," she sniffled.

"Look, I know Angie was a bit harsh earlier," she walked over and sat next to Katie on her four-poster bed, "but we really are concerned."

Katie didn't answer.

"If it makes you feel better, you can tell Angie when you're ready," Alicia offered a compromise.

She stood her ground and still did not give in.

"I won't judge you, okay? I'll understand, I promise."

She finally turned to Alicia. "It's Flint."

Her fellow Chaser gasped. "Get out."

"I'm completely serious."

"Um, alright. I suppose you could start from the beginning. Are you seeing him? Because that would be disgusting, to be quite honest, considering he's four years your senior."

"No," she quickly shook her head, then sighed. "I don't know, actually. It's like he has split personalities. When he's with me, he is so sweet and protective, like a tougher, less prankster-ish version of Fred and George. But when he's with his friends, oh dear Godric…"

"So that's where you were that night," Alicia concluded.

Katie nodded. "Well, he took me out to Hogsmeade first…"

"On a _school night_?" Alicia gasped again. "How did you manage?"

"His broom," she answered simply. "We flew from the Quidditch pitch."

"You bad girl," Alicia teased her with a light punch on the shoulder. Katie giggled a little, her spirits slowly rising. "And you spent the night in their common room too?"

"How did you know about that?"

"Where else would you have been?" she answered with a shrug. "I can't imagine you sleeping with any of our male housemates, no offense to them."

"Well, more like Flint's bedroom…"

"WHAT?"

"Don't worry, nothing happened," Katie held up her hand in reassurance. "He had an extra bed for me."

"That's really nice of him," Alicia said thoughtfully. Then, her face lit up into a mischievous smile. "So, what happened in their common room? What's it like in there?"

"Well the ones around our age were…typical, I guess," she replied. "They played Wizard's Chess, did homework, etc. It was mostly fifth-year and up, except for Pucey, who's a fourth-year, I think. He's nice too, very brotherly."

"Figures," Alicia nodded. "He's the only one we don't see playing dirty during our matches."

"But um," After a second thought, Katie realized how entertaining she had found the drunken Slytherin Quidditch players. "They kind of brought out the firewhiskey…"

Her friend burst out laughing. "They so would. Did they do anything interesting?"

"Wrestling, random obnoxious laughter, nothing I haven't seen before with my older cousins," she shrugged. "Although…"

By now, their heads were close together, with Alicia listening intently.

"One of them did puke on me," Katie said quietly.

"Oh my, who?"

"Take a guess," Katie smiled cheekily.

"Montague," Alicia said automatically. "He always struck me as the biggest arse on their team."

"Surprisingly, no. But keep guessing."

"Flint?"

"If he did, I would _hate_ him by now."

Suddenly, Alicia knew. "No way. _Him_?"

Katie nodded.

"As in, the one Angie fancies?"

"Yes."

"Well," she said after opening and closing her mouth a few times. "I suppose there's something you could always use against her if Angie freaks about it all when you get around to telling her."

"And exactly _what_ would you use against me?" an angry, fuming voice came from outside the third-year girls dormitory.

Katie and Alicia looked at each other, thinking the exact same thing: _Oh shit, we are _so_ busted.

* * *

_

So no Marcus in this chapter, at least not directly. Sorry about that! I wanted to explore Katie's friendship with Angelina and Alicia a bit since the three of them are almost always mentioned together in the books. And judging by how this ended, I'm sensing a little tension. What about you guys? Any clues on what might happen next?


	11. Chapter 11

Same disclaimers apply! I've gotten too lazy to type out that I don't own Harry Potter.  
Ahh my winter break is over! ***sad face* **And now my busy schedule commences. I will warn you that I won't be able to update as quickly as I have been so far, but I will try to get a chapter up once a week or once every two weeks or something. Anyways, this chapter's like twice as long as the others. I tried to split it somewhere but I couldn't figure a good place, so I just made it all one chapter. Enjoy!

* * *

"So." Angelina was now glaring at both of her teammates. "You want to tell me what's going on now, since I'm obviously not in on this?"

"Well," Katie stood up to face Angelina, "I was the last to know about _Warrington_, so we're even."

"You told her?" Her glare was now directed at Alicia.

"It might've slipped," she shrugged. "Sorry."

"Ugh, whatever," she shook her head. "So what's your story then, Katie? I'm assuming it's a boy too?"

"Yes, it's Flint."

"MARCUS FLINT?" she shouted.

"I knew you'd react that way," Katie said nonchalantly.

"That troll for a Slytherin captain who knocked you off your broom first match, last year?"

"He apologized for that. And he's not a troll," She crossed her arms. "He just needs braces, that's all."

"Braces?" Angelina tilted her head in confusion.

"It's a Muggle thing," Alicia explained. "They fix crooked teeth and make them look better. My cousin wears them." Katie knew what braces were from one of her friends from her old Muggle school, who had them at the time.

"Alright then," Angelina nodded. "Keep going, Katie. I want to know _everything_."

"Uh, where do you want me to start?"

"Well, I already knew that you and Flint know each other, so how about that night earlier this week where you didn't show up after Quidditch practice?" She now sat on the edge of the four-poster bed next to Katie's. "I hope this person doesn't mind," she muttered to herself.

Katie sighed. She had just told the whole thing to Alicia. "Flint took me out to dinner at the Three Broomsticks in Hogsmeade. We lost track of the time and didn't get back till nine-thirty. There were so many teachers around because of the attack on Mrs. Norris, so he brought me down to the Slytherin dungeon instead to save me from detention, and I spent the night there."

"Whoa, whoa, whoa," Angelina put her hands up to stop her from continuing. "You spent the night with _Slytherins_?"

She nodded, pursing her lips.

"Now I _really _want to know what happened. Details, please!" She went from suspicious to curious in a heartbeat, and the three of them were now gossiping on Katie's four-poster bed.

"Flint has his own room?" Angelina raised her eyebrows in surprise. "Interesting. I wonder if Wood does, too."

"You won't say anything, will you?" Katie was worried now. If Wood found out, she would be undoubtedly kicked off the team.

"Of course not," she shook her head. "I'm just curious if it's a Slytherin thing or if all Quidditch captains have the privilege." She stopped to process everything that Katie witnessed in the Slytherin common room. "But I still can't believe my Warrington would do that to you."

"_Your _Warrington?" Katie and Alicia chimed in unison with identical reactions.

"I don't even call _Flint_ mine," said Katie.

"Alright, you guys caught me," Angelina admitted. She turned to the small blonde next to her. "I'm sorry for freaking out about Flint. I still don't like him very much, but I can't _entirely_ disapprove. I guess you two would be alright, but isn't he a little old for you?"

"Don't worry," she assured her friend, "we haven't even kissed yet." Technically, that was still true. He had only kissed her on the cheek and vice versa. They hadn't done any real snogging yet.

"I can't imagine you two kissing," Alicia finally spoke again. "He's just so much bigger and older. It'd be like a seventh-year snogging Professor Snape or something."

"Ew, Ali!"

"I'm just kidding," she laughed. "Really though, wait a couple years, or even three. Do you want to be branded as the Quidditch slut by the Slytherins and the rest of the school?"

"Excuse me, but I plan on staying a virgin until I'm _ready_!" Katie exclaimed indignantly.

"Doesn't matter," Angelina said, siding with Alicia. "It has nothing to do with whether you've actually done it. Once people hear of an older student having an affair with a younger student, they talk, and it gets _ugly_. Rumor has it that Roger Davies – one of the Ravenclaw Chasers – has snogged every girl in his year and has already shagged a couple of them too. Do you want to end up like one of _them_?"

"But Roger Davies is actually _good-looking_," justified Katie.

"Then what are you doing eyeing an ugly butt like Flint?" countered Angelina in a teasing manner.

"Looks can be deceiving," she answered with a shy smile. "Flint is actually nice. He's only mean on the Quidditch pitch."

"Alright, it's your call," Angelina nodded. "But you know what this means, right?"

"Um, no…"

"We can now pursue our Slytherins together!" she squealed, bouncing up and down on Katie's bed.

Katie laughed a little. "I guess you're right."

"Ahem, ahem," Alicia cleared her throat. "And where does this leave me?"

"You can help us, of course," Katie said.

"I suppose that wouldn't be so bad," she shrugged with a slight smile.

* * *

Security got stricter than ever as there were five more attacks on Muggle-born students. Quidditch got cancelled, to all the Quidditch players' disappointment, and nobody was allowed anywhere alone anymore. The Slytherins were the only ones unfazed by all the attacks, much to Katie's disgust. They treated it as though it were a laughing matter and shrugged off everybody's extra-cautiousness around the school.

Katie was fortunate enough to catch the Mumblemumps and spend practically the last month of school in the Hospital Wing. It was hardly a break for her, though, because while she could not talk at times, she had to use her time in bed to study for her final exams.

"I'm bored," she complained as Angelina and Alicia came in carrying all her textbooks, as well as a couple of quills and ink bottles.

"Well, you're not missing much," Angelina said grimly. "There's no Quidditch, and if we're not in class or the Great Hall, we're pretty much confined to the common room."

"Yeah," Alicia agreed. "Going to the common room used to be a relief, but now it's just boring. You're much better off in here."

"Besides, I overheard Flint telling the Slytherins he's going to surprise you somehow," Angelina added with a smile. "If that was his plan, he should've been sneakier about it."

"Don't get her hopes up," Alicia said. "What if he was joking?"

"If what Katie has said about him is true, he wasn't," she answered firmly. "Have fun studying! Get well soon, alright? We'll bring you more stuff when we can."

"Thanks," croaked Katie. Her face and neck would start swelling on-and-off from time to time, and when that happened, she was practically useless.

Katie wondered how anybody was studying for finals with everything that had happened, but she nonetheless opened her Herbology book and started studying.

She found Herbology rather boring; it was all memorization plus taking care of various magical plants. Her personal favorites were Charms and Potions. She also liked Defense against the Dark Arts; she was among the many girls that found Professor Lockhart devilishly attractive and handsome. She couldn't say she learned much from him, but she enjoyed giggling about him with Leanne and a few other fellow classmates.

Angelina and Alicia had followed through on their promise and brought Katie some of Fred and George's prank products before being whisked off to their classes by Professor McGonagall. She smiled as she fantasized ways to use them to get out of classes she didn't particularly like.

* * *

"Miss Bell, you have a visitor," Madame Pomfrey said later that evening, as she walked by to check on the petrified students.

"Hey," Adrian Pucey walked in wearing his Quidditch robes, carrying bags of licorice wands and chocolate cauldron cakes. "It's Katie, right?"

She nodded, appreciating that he called her by her first name.

"Feeling better?"

She shook her head. "I can't talk very much."

"I'm sorry to hear," he gave her a genuinely sympathetic look. "These are for you, by the way," he placed the sweets on her lap.

Katie smiled as a way of thanking him and took out a quill and ink bottle. She wrote on a piece of parchment paper: "I thought Quidditch was cancelled. What are you doing in your Quidditch robes?"

"Flint is crazy, let's put it that way," he said.

She wrote in reply: "You obviously haven't met Wood. He is the **epitome** of craziness." She wrote "epitome" in capital letters.

"I guess there's a reason they hate each other's guts then," Pucey laughed.

Soon after, Warrington walked in carrying a box of chocolate frogs. Katie's mouth opened slightly and eyebrows raised as if to say, "Are those for me, too?"

"She's got the Mumblemumps, remember?" Pucey reminded his teammate.

"Oh," Warrington said. "Well, these are for you, yes. Where should I put them?"

She pointed to her side table.

"Sorry about that one night, by the way," he added.

Katie shrugged and wrote on the parchment: "You drank too much. What did you expect?"

He laughed. "You know," he lowered his voice, "Don't say anything, but you know your mate with the braids?"

She saw exactly where this was going. "Angelina Johnson?" she wrote.

"Yeah, her," he nodded. "I've got a bit of a thing for her, you see, but I don't know if, um, you know…"

Katie started smiling mischievously. She silently debated whether or not to tell Warrington that Angelina did, indeed, like him too. Her newfound sneaky side won over and she scribbled, "You don't know her at all, do you?"

"Well, not really..."

"Hurry up whatever it is you're doing," Pucey interrupted. "Flint's coming any minute."

Bletchley had joined Pucey and Warrington in the Hospital Wing with Katie, putting down a box of Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Beans next to the box of chocolate frogs.

"Wow, you guys are so generous," she finally managed to say.

"It was Flint's idea," Bletchley admitted.

"It was?" she squeaked.

"It was," a deep, husky voice boomed from the doorway. Marcus Flint, still in his Quidditch gear, finally appeared; in his arms was a vase full of fresh, yellow sunflowers. He set it down at the table at the foot of her bed, took out his wand, and muttered "Wingardium Leviosa". A golden tray floated into the room filled with various treats from Honeyduke's.

"Oh my God," she whispered. "You did all this…for me?"

"We had to do something," he shrugged. "We heard your friends talking about how bored you were in here."

"Thank you!" she said quietly, and reached out her arms to hug him. Pucey and Warrington lifted her up from her bed so that she could wrap her arms around Marcus. "They're beautiful," she whispered in her ear.

"Just like you," he whispered back, "even when you're sick."

As soon as she was placed back on her bed, she took a sip of water from her mug on her bedside. "Quick question, though: how did you manage to get all this stuff? Everywhere's loaded with teachers guarding the place."

"We're Slytherins," Marcus answered slyly with a grin. "We have our ways. Did you expect anything less?"

They all laughed.

Suddenly, Professor McGonagall's voice was heard loud and clear: "All students to return to their House dormitories at once. All teachers return to the staff room. Immediately, please."

Everyone was silent. Katie pulled the covers up to her neck in fear. "A-a-another attack," she whispered. "You guys should go."

"No," Flint said firmly. "We're staying here."

"I appreciate the thought, but you're going to get in trouble," she said.

"She's right," Warrington said. "We can come back tomorrow, or sneak out later when nobody's out."

"You guys can leave if you want," Flint said gruffly. "I'm staying."

Warrington and Bletchley left, with Warrington waving a little, leaving the three of them in the Hospital Wing.

"What happened to self-preservation, Flint?" Katie said softly, giving him a small smirk of her own.

"Maybe tonight," Marcus sat on the bed and put an arm around her, "I don't care."

"Besides, Madame Pomfrey can't do anything about it anyway," Adrian pointed out. "She's in the staff room with all the other teachers."

"McGonagall only said teachers," Katie corrected him. "Pomfrey's a nurse."

"Well yeah, but she's kind of been in charge of all the," he looked around at the six beds covered by curtains, "victims, hasn't she? She's going to want to go."

"I guess you guys are right," Katie conceded.

Flint and Pucey pulled up a couple of beds next to Katie and plopped themselves on them noisily, with Marcus taking the bed right next to Katie.

"Whoever it was," Marcus broke the silence, positioning his arms at the back of his head, "I hope they turn out alright."

"Yeah, same," Adrian nodded.

"Me too." Katie had an idea of who it was, after observing her suspect in the common room. She was no Ravenclaw, but it wasn't hard to notice the pattern; everytime there was an attack, Ginny Weasley would be extremely distressed and flustered. She would also write in that little black book of hers while seemingly entranced. Shortly after writing, she'd disappear, and then there would be another attack. As much as Katie had wanted to tell somebody, she had nobody to tell; she was friendly with the twins because of Quidditch, but they were closer to Angelina and Alicia. She didn't know Ron Weasley very well, so it would be rather awkward to tell him, and she certainly didn't want to tell Percy Weasley; she found him more intimidating than Marcus at times, in his own way. She sighed out loud.

"Something wrong?" Adrian said.

She shook her head. "No," she lied. "I'm just tired. Good night."

* * *

I loved writing this chapter, hope you guys enjoyed reading it! I'll have the next chapter up when I can!


	12. Chapter 12

Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter!  
Whoo, I survived my first week back to school! And I was finally able to take some time to write this chapter! I decided to dig a little deeper into the relationships with their friends with this one, so it took a little more time. This chapter takes place the summer before Katie's fourth year (before Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban). Katie is almost fourteen (her birthday for this story will be June 30), and Marcus turned 18 between the last chapter and this one. I anticipate the next chapter (or two, depending on where the story goes after the next chapter) taking place in the summer. Now that Katie is getting older, you can expect more drama between the two of them and on both sides as well! The chapters will slowly build more depth into the layers of their characters, too. Happy reading!

* * *

"Look, if you miss him so much, why don't you just write to him?" Angelina said as she and the two other girls decorated cupcakes by hand at Alicia's mother's bakery.

"But I don't know where he lives," Katie pointed out.

"Hey, doesn't Flint's family own Flint Jewelry and Co.?" Angelina said. "I think my dad bought my mom's engagement ring from there."

"His mom does," Katie remembered from their dinner in the Three Broomsticks.

"She's a total bitch though," Angelina rolled her eyes. "She got her competitors out of business so that her company could be _the _jewelry company. The other two weren't very good to begin with, but it doesn't make it right, you know?"

"Yeah," Katie stared off absentmindedly. She wondered if what Angelina had said was true and if Marcus knew about it, since he had told her that he didn't get to see her very much.

"Alicia, you haven't said much," Angelina turned to her Muggle-born friend. "Why don't you just decorate these…"

"Cupcakes," Alicia finished.

"Cupcakes," Angelina nodded. "Why don't you just decorate them with magic? I bet it'd be a lot faster, you know."

"First off, we're not allowed to use magic outside of school," Alicia said. "Second, it wouldn't be the same. There's a reason my mum's business is doing well; everything is homemade from scratch."

"I see. You know, I wonder what the Ministry's going to do now that that serial killer is on the loose."

"Sirius Black?" Katie suddenly paid extra attention. Her parents had gone to school with the man, and he had been fairly popular among the Gryffindors. Although her parents were in Hufflepuff, they had been friendly with Black, and they knew that he was fiercely loyal to his friends. In fact, he was so loyal that, in their opinion, he should have been in Hufflepuff. That was unlikely, though, as he came from a family of Slytherins and most likely asked to be put in Gryffindor the way Harry Potter did when he first came to Hogwarts.

"Yeah, he's the reason Potter's parents died in the first place."

"I don't know, they don't have enough proof, in my opinion," Katie said thoughtfully. "All they said was that he betrayed Harry's parents to You-Know-Who. They didn't give any details. Plus, my parents knew him back when they went to Hogwarts, and they told me he was one of the most loyal people they had ever met. I think he might be innocent."

"People change, you know," Angelina insisted. "Look at his family. The whole lot of them before him was in Slytherin. His inner snake was bound to come out."

"And this is one reason I'm glad I live in the Muggle world," Alicia sighed. "At least I can stay away from all that drama."

"But we have Quidditch," Katie said. "And Hogwarts!"

"I guess I've gotten used to it, growing up with Muggles and all that," Alicia shrugged. "It's not so bad, really. But yeah, it's kind of hard to beat Quidditch."

"Alright, so back to Flint," Angelina still referred to him as Flint, even though Katie's connection with him had gotten considerably stronger at the end of last school year. "Write to him, Katie. Really. You'll thank me later."

"But what do I tell him?"

"I don't know, whatever you want," she shrugged. "I don't really know much about what goes on between you two, so…"

"If you don't write him, he might think you're not into him anymore," Alicia agreed.

"But it goes both ways," Katie protested. "If he wanted to talk to me, don't you think he would've found some way to contact me? Right now I feel like a fan girl or something writing to him. He's, like, eighteen."

"Since when did you become so chicken?" Angelina put her hands on her hips. "You have the nerve to go into the Slytherin common room – in _his _room –and sleep there, but you can't write to the guy?"

"It's not the same…"

"Fine then," Angelina conceded. "Don't write him. Let him shag some other little slut."

"He's not like that!" Katie nearly yelled at her friend.

"I wouldn't put it past him," she said fiercely. "Don't underestimate a Slytherin."

"Girls," Alicia came between them. "All the customers can hear you. Keep it down or my mum won't let me bring friends here anymore!"

Her two friends looked at her for a moment before glaring at each other.

* * *

Meanwhile, back in the wizarding world, Marcus Flint, Adrian Pucey, Christopher Warrington, Terrence Higgs, Graham Montague and Miles Bletchley sat atop their Nimbus 2001's at the Flint Manor's private Quidditch field. It was nowhere near as big as the one at school, but it was still big enough to hold a friendly game. They went three on three, with Marcus's team of him, Pucey and Warrington winning, due to his superb goal-scoring.

"So what's the deal with you and Katie?" Adrian asked Marcus as they landed back on the ground.

"Which Katie?" There was also a Katie Hodgeson in Hufflepuff that annoyed him to no end with her goody two-shoes, stickler-to-the-rules attitude, but he had a feeling which one Adrian was referring to.

"Bell, obviously."

"Oh. What do you mean?"

"Well, how do you feel about her?"

"What a dumb arse question, Pucey," Warrington pulled up beside him. "It's no secret he fancies her."

"Would you like me to throw you off the team permanently, Warrington?" Marcus snarled dangerously.

"It was just a damn question," Warrington said. "Jeez, it's not like I touched her this time. Besides, I like her friend better. You know, the one with the plaits?"

"Whatever," Flint waved his hand.

"So do you like her?" Pucey asked.

Marcus's teammates waited expectantly for his reply. Suddenly he was quiet. He was never good at expressing his feelings, especially if they were bordering on romantic. The truth was, Marcus _wasn't _sure how he felt about the young blonde. From the moment he met her, he had the desire to protect her for reasons he couldn't quite explain. That desire turned to a need, and he subtly began watching out for her in her third year. She still was very much a child compared to him (he wasn't quite sure if she had turned fourteen yet) and it killed him inside. He just couldn't take away her innocence like that, not with the amount integrity she had.

"I…don't know," he finally answered.

"That's bullshit," Pucey said. "You brought her into our common room and threatened us all not to touch her. You've never cared like that before."

"Yeah," Montague agreed. "And the way you were ready to kill Warrington after…"

The other Slytherins whistled and cheered.

"Enough," he thundered. "Leave. All of you."

They all knew better than to defy him, so they quickly turned on their brooms and flew home.

"Except you, Pucey," Marcus stopped his friend, who was practically his brother.

Adrian turned to him. "It's pretty obvious, you know. You may be a master at sneaking around and bending the school rules, but this…you can't really hide."

"You don't understand, do you?" Flint was frustrated. Then he shook his head. "No matter. I wouldn't expect you to."

"Try me."

"Look, if Bell and I were to get more…you know, serious," he began, then trailed off. "My point is: me and her right now would be absolutely _wrong_. She is still a _child_!"

"She's only a year younger than me," Adrian shrugged. "What's the big deal?"

"You're not a fucking _girl_," he groaned impatiently, clapping his hand to his forehead. "See? I knew you wouldn't get it."

"I do, Flint!" he yelled. "I'm not as stupid as you think! Sometimes I think I know you better than you know yourself. I wasn't telling you to get into a relationship with her; that's your business. I was just asking you how you feel about her."

"If you really aren't as stupid as you say, you will believe me when I say that that is a hard question to answer," Marcus said calmly. "I definitely care about her. I don't like seeing her sad or scared or…hurt." He swallowed as he remembered the time he had scared her so badly when he was a sixth-year. "I guess it's rather strange. I've never cared about anyone the way I care about her. All my life, I've manipulated people for my own personal gain and haven't had many real friends. In fact, you've probably been my only true friend, Adrian."

"Wow," Adrian didn't expect that last part. "Um, thanks. I guess I should tell you then that you're one of the best friends I've ever had, too. You've always had my back, no matter what."

"You're practically my brother," Marcus shrugged.

"Alright, stop avoiding the subject, back to Bell now."

"Right," he nodded. "I suppose I do like her as more than a friend. It might be incredibly wrong, but I do."

"It's only wrong if you shag her," Adrian pointed out. "But if you love her, you love her. Fuck the rules. We're Slytherins for a reason, aren't we?"

Flint smirked. "I taught you well."

* * *

I don't know about you, but I love Marcus even more now! And as you can see, Adrian will play a fairly large role in the story from this point onward. I'm growing to like his character too, actually. In other Katie/Marcus stories I've read, Adrian seems to be the villain in some way, but judging from the way he doesn't cheat or play dirty in Quidditch like many of his teammates (according to Harry Potter Wiki, anyway), I figured he's a somewhat moral person that exhibits the positive side of the Slytherin traits.

And thank you, by the way, for all your story alerts and reviews! They are so encouraging for me, and it makes me so happy when I see a new story alert or review in my email inbox! I will hopefully have another chapter up tomorrow since it's a three-day weekend for me. Later, all!


	13. Chapter 13

Disclaimer: Harry Potter belongs to JK Rowling, not me!  
Here I am with another chapter. I don't have anything particularly interesting to say about this one, so happy reading!

* * *

"Dear Marcus," Katie said aloud. She quickly scribbled it out. "No, no, too formal. Hmm," she rested her chin on her hand in thought. "Marcus!" She wrote in three exclamation points after his name. "No, that sounds too desperate." She crumpled up the parchment and threw it in her wastebasket. "'Sup, Marcus? No, I sound like a guy." She threw her hands in the air. "You see, Angie? Writing isn't as easy as you think! I'd like to see you try writing to Warrington!"

"Kaitlin?" Emily Bell peered in the doorway of her daughter's room. "Who are you talking to?"

"Oh, no one, sorry," Katie answered quickly, covering up what she had been doing. "Was just a little frustrated, that's all."

"Alright, I'm in the kitchen if you need anything," she nodded. "Dinner will be ready in a half hour."

"Thanks, Mum," Katie smiled.

Katie resumed writing. The quill and ink was frustrating her, so she took out a pen that her dad had bought for her when he went to New York City for a conference with the American Minister of Magic.

_Hi Marcus,_

_ Just thought I'd say hello. How's your summer so far? It feels like ages since we've talked, even though we just got out for vacation a week ago. It's not the same without you telling me you're better than me at Quidditch (I _will _win again first match next year, just you wait and see) every time I walk by you and your friends. I don't miss you pulling my hair or randomly turning my robes green in the corridors, although I will admit that last one was kind of funny. The look on my friends' faces was hilarious! So um, yeah. I don't really have anything else to tell you right now. Write back when you can!_

_Katie Bell_

The chances of him writing back were slim, Katie knew, but it was worth a shot. She strode over to her owl, Mocha. "Hey, Mo-mo," she stroked her owl's back affectionately, "can you take this to Marcus Flint, please?"

Mocha took Katie's note in her beak and flew off.

"And now I wait," she let out a deep breath.

* * *

"So what's new at Hogwarts?" Benjamin Bell asked his daughter as they enjoyed some spaghetti and garlic bread.

"Um, a monster attacked about six people," Katie replied, "and Harry Potter saved Ginny Weasley from dying."

"You don't realize how fortunate you are," Emily smiled. "To go to the school with the Chosen One…"

"It's no big deal, really," she shrugged. "He's just a normal kid who got extremely lucky."

"I see," Emily nodded. "Any boys in your life you'd like to tell us?"

Katie froze. There was no way her mother could have seen that letter.

"Uhm, not really," she shook her head. "No. Why do you ask?"

"You seemed like you were hiding something when I checked on you earlier. But that's okay. I was the same way when I was your age."

"Well now that you mention it," Katie was relieved that Emily was now likely to understand. "There is kind of someone."

"Might I ask who this 'someone' is?" Benjamin was now listening.

"Well, you see, I'm not really sure about him," she explained. "He's much older than me. But he's been a good friend to me; he's very protective."

"Define 'much older'."

"He's eighteen, I think," Katie said thoughtfully. "I'm not sure when his birthday is. He might still be seventeen. Don't worry, Dad. He's been very kind to me."

"Will we get to meet him?" Emily asked her daughter, appeasing her husband's worries.

"Mum! It's not like he's my boyfriend!" Katie stopped both of them. "I appreciate your concern, but I don't think he'll become my boyfriend anytime soon. If ever it does happen, I'll let you know and bring him over." She had nothing to hide with Marcus, although if she had her way she would persuade him to get his teeth straightened.

"I don't trust older men," Benjamin said, shaking his head. "If it's the Weasley twins, fine, it hardly makes a difference, but this one…you haven't even told us his name."

"It's Marcus Flint."

Both her parents put down their silverware and stared at her in disbelief.

"Oh no, not you guys too," Katie started getting a little angry. "Do Houses and rivalries really matter that much?"

"No, it's not that. We were Hufflepuffs, remember?" Emily assured her. "It's just…we didn't expect that. His mother isn't exactly the kindest woman."

"Well, he's not like her," she insisted. "He's always found some way to watch out for me. It's kinda sweet."

"Alright, if he's as good as you say he is, bring him over," her father said, taking a big bite of garlic bread.

"Ben…" Emily began.

"If my daughter - our daughter - is going to be gallivanting with older men, we need to be sure he can be trusted," he said firmly.

"For when should I set the date?" Katie cut in before he could ramble on any longer.

"That's up to you," he said. "Just remember that you won't be able to see him until we – well me in particular – have met him and approve of him."

"If I wanted to see him, I'd find other ways to do so, wouldn't I?"

Her parents sighed. "Kaitlin, go to your room while your mother and I discuss your new man," Benjamin dismissed her.

Mocha was perched on her branch with a slightly crumpled piece of parchment that Katie assumed was from Marcus. She eagerly took it and hesitated a little before opening it, scared and excited for his response. "I can't believe he actually wrote back," she thought aloud.

With a swish of her hand, she broke open the fancy seal of the envelope and held her breath.

_Hello Katie,_

_ It's hard to tell how one's summer has been if it's only been a week, isn't it? Mine's been alright, I suppose. I will tell you that Gryffindor is going down this next year; I don't think Wood will have you all ready for what we have in store for you. I failed my exams before the term ended, so I'm back for another year. Don't ask why. I'd rather not go into detail, as concerned as you probably are. But you know, I've been doing a lot of thinking lately, and I think I might like you. _

At reading that sentence, she took a step backwards and tripped over her suitcase, which she still hadn't unpacked. Her head crashed against her desk and knocked over a few picture frames and books on her desk that had been leaning against the wall of her bedroom.

"Everything alright, hon?" Emily Bell called.

"Yeah, I'm good," Katie called, inhaling and exhaling in quick, sharp breaths. She read on,

_That last sentence gave you a bit of a shock, am I right? I can understand if you don't feel the same way, but I don't want age to be a factor here. I am capable of waiting until you're ready (bet you never thought that, eh?) and legal. If you're having doubts, you'll probably believe me if I said that Adrian would have my arse if I didn't keep to that. So there. I'll admit I wasn't sure if I wanted to tell you, but I couldn't quite contain myself any longer. Take it or leave it, your call._

_Marcus Flint_

She opened and closed her mouth, looking around in nervousness. She lay on her bed, clutching his letter to her chest. _I guess this is where I decide how much I like him,_ she thought. _I want to like him, I really do. I just don't know if I can handle it._ _He scares me sometimes. Sometimes I feel like he's going to explode on me. I don't know now…Oh don't be daft, Katie, you _love_ him! _

She tore a small piece of parchment and her pen and scribbled quickly before sending it off.

"This is not happening," Katie told herself. "This is all a dream. I'm going to wake up any time now, and everything will be fine..."

* * *

So what do you guys think she said? Feel free to debate among yourselves too, if you'd like!


	14. Chapter 14

**Disclaimer**: Harry Potter is NOT MINE.  
Bet you didn't expect that last chapter, did you? Hope you like this one, too. Happy reading!

* * *

Adrian Pucey nearly fell over and clutched the nearby couch, doubling up in laughter. "Oh she's a feisty one, that one," he finally managed to breathe.

"So, what's it say?" Marcus was seething on the couch, his hands clasped tightly and elbows on his knees.

"Do you _really_ want to know?"

"What's the worst she can say, you moron," he got up impatiently to snatch the piece of parchment. He took a deep breath and unfolded the small parchment.

_Have the balls to tell me to my face, and then I'll consider._

_Katie Bell_

Marcus suddenly turned a deep shade of Gryffindor red, half-angry and half-embarrassed. Either way, he couldn't tell if she was joking or not. He pursed his lips in thought. "Well," his voice was slightly above a whisper, "I was definitely _not_ expecting _that_."

"It is what it is," his friend shrugged. "What are you going to do about it?"

"I really don't know," Flint admitted. "Do you think she's serious? Or just bluffing?"

"I don't know her very well, but she's probably serious," Pucey answered honestly. "Girls like being told in person."

"How would _you _know that, eh? Ever done it yourself?"

"My sister," he said simply. "She complains all the time when some bloke she likes can't express his feelings."

Now Flint stood up. "And _what _are you implying?"

"Nothing," Pucey put his arms up in defense. "I'm not implying that you can't express your feelings, if that's what you were worried about. I'm just…giving you options."

"You don't expect me to personally _tell _her, do you?" Flint spat.

"Well yeah, I kind of do…"

"Whose side are you on, really?"

"Nobody's," he defended himself again. "I'm just saying you need to man up, that's all."

"So you're telling me to make a fool of myself."

"Of course not!" Pucey said, exasperated. "I don't get it. Why do you always want a fight, Flint?"

"Tell me how."

"Tell you…_what_, exactly?"

"How to tell her, you daft bint!"

"I…I don't know. That's up to you. We're two different people. Personally, I'd drop a few hints here and there before straight up telling her, but you obviously can't handle it."

"Way to believe in your Captain, mate," Flint crossed his arms with a glare.

"Wait…you're coming back? Weren't you a seventh-year last year?"

"Let's not go there," he dismissed him quickly.

"Alright. Well let's get this whole Katie thing, sorted out, shall we?"

"Bell."

"Erm, what?"

"She's Bell to you," Marcus corrected him. "Only I can call her that."

"Why? Katie's her name, isn't it?"

"Shut up before I murder you."

"You wouldn't."

"I'm legal now, you know."

"Wow, I'm scared," Pucey answered back sarcastically.

"Enough!" Marcus growled. "So what do you propose?"

"Well what do _you _want?"

"Stop reversing the question, will you?"

"This should be your idea, not mine. You're the one on the verge of legitimately dating."

"Fine," Flint sighed. "It's just…I've never done this sort of thing before. It's not like I'm attractive or anything."

"Ka-I mean _she _seems to think so," Adrian decided not to anger him any further. "Isn't that what matters? As long as she accepts you for _you_."

"I suppose," he nodded. He scratched his head in thought. "Argh, I'm not good at coming up with this kind of thing!"

"If you're really scared of making a fool of yourself, you could always get people to do it for you," Adrian said thoughtfully.

Suddenly, a twinkle appeared in Marcus's eye. "Not bad, Pucey. Not bad at all."

"Well, most of it, anyway. You still have to tell her yourself."

"Oh. I forgot about that part."

"Anyway, I have an idea, since you're absolute rubbish at this sort of thing."

"Obvious much?"

"Well, I know of some people who might help us if they have enough of a motive. They're wicked good too. They'd be good Slytherins if their family didn't love Muggles so much."

"Am I thinking what I think…"

"Yes."

"Why _them_? The whole lot of them are a bunch of prats."

"Only the prefect," Adrian said earnestly. "Besides…I was looking more along the lines of…the twins."

"The Gryffindor Beaters?" It was a habit for Flint to remember people by their Quidditch positions.

"Yeah. What's better than using people with connections?"

"I like your thinking, Adrian," Marcus was smiling by now. "But what makes you think they'll help us? Wouldn't that require telling her about my…situation?"

"Well yes, but it's a trade-off, you know…"

"No I don't bloody know!" he was losing his temper again. "There is _no_ way I'm telling those bloody Beaters…from _Gryffindor_, no less…

"Fine. Leave her hanging then. Face it, Flint. You've got nothing. Are you really going to throw away what could potentially be your best opportunity?"

"Okay, okay, I'll do it!" he conceded. "When?"

"Right about," Adrian grabbed a quill and ink and scribbled messily on a small piece of parchment lying next to him, "now." His dark brown owl flew off.

"So now what?"

"We wait."

"How exactly do you know they'll help us?"

"You know Gryffindors. They'll do practically anything for a friend in need," Pucey smirked.

"You're a lot like me in more ways than you realize."

"Is that good or bad?"

Flint shrugged. "Depends on how you look at it. You'll never beat me in Quidditch, though."

* * *

At the Burrow, the Weasley twins were playing an intense game of Exploding Snap in their bedroom when a dark brown owl perched itself on their windowsill with a wrinkled piece of parchment.

"Who do you reckon that's from?" George asked curiously.

"I dunno, only one way to find out, eh?" Fred replied with a smile and took the paper from the owl's beak.

A few nods and "Uh-huhs" later, Fred crumpled the paper into a ball and threw it as hard as he could against the wall. "I can't believe it," he hissed.

"What'd it say?"

"Pucey and Flint want our help."

"Why would Slytherins need our help?" George was suspicious. "Maybe they're just trying to discredit Gryffindor. I wouldn't put it past them."

"There's more," Fred handed the parchment to his twin, who read it intently.

"Well…it's not like I didn't see that one coming."

"You knew? You knew all along and you didn't say _anything_?" Fred was incredulous. "Not even to me?"

"It was only a hunch," George justified. "I wasn't sure."

"Whatever. So do we help them, or not? Personally, I say no."

"Well, we'd be helping a friend and teammate," he pointed out. "If she really told Flint what Pucey says she did, then he obviously makes her happy. And you yourself said we protect our own."

"We do," Fred agreed. "I just don't know how I feel about helping snakes. After all, they're not to be trusted."

"I'm sure they say the same thing about us, and here they are asking us for help," George said.

"Why do you always win?" Fred grumbled, and took out some parchment of his own.

_We'll do it. Name the time and place.

* * *

_

I'm willing to bet that you didn't see that one coming either, am I right? You can only imagine what could possibly happen when you pair the kings of jokes and pranks with a pair of sneaky, cunning snakes...


	15. Chapter 15

Disclaimer: How many times do I have to say I don't own Harry Potter?

* * *

"Okay, so what's the deal here?" Fred said as they met Pucey and Flint at Florean Fortescue's Ice Cream Parlour in Diagon Alley.

"Well, Flint told Bell in a letter how he felt about her," Pucey said simply.

Fred turned to Flint. "You coward! Didn't have the balls to tell her to her face, did you?"

"Oh no, you didn't…"

"Enough," George finally spoke up, coming in between his twin and the Slytherin Quidditch Captain and glaring at both of them. "Go on, Pucey."

"You're absolutely right, erm," Pucey wasn't sure which twin was which.

"Fred," Fred finished for him.

"Right," he nodded. "See that's the thing. She won't give Flint an answer unless he tells her in person. Her reaction was just like yours, actually."

"So why'd you call us here, then?" George asked curiously.

"Because like he said," Adrian motioned to Fred, "Flint _doesn't _have the balls to tell her himself."

The twins both turned their bodies fully to look at Flint with mock surprise.

"He needs a little help," Pucey said.

"Ohhhh," the twins' mouths formed perfect O's in unison, and mischievous smiles spread on their faces.

"What did you have in mind?" George asked.

Flint shrugged. "I'm not good at this stuff. I…we…were hoping you could help."

The twins turned to each other. "We're not trying to get out of helping you or anything," George began.

"But we don't know Katie very well," Fred chimed in.

"Even if we've played with her for the past two years," his twin finished.

"She sticks mostly to Angelina and/or Alicia, except when she's debating with Wood on different strategies."

Flint hissed at the sound of his rival's name.

"So with that said," George turned to Flint. "If you could give us an idea of what she's like when it comes to this stuff…don't think we don't know how you've snuck her around school all last year…we'll see what we have to work with."

Flint bit his lip in thought, his trollish teeth protruding over his lower lip. "I…I don't know where to begin."

"Why don't we start by talking about what you've done for her," Fred said, ready to give him a hard fist to the face if he'd hurt Katie. She was his teammate after all.

"Erm, well like you said, I snuck her around school a bit, even out to Hogsmeade on a school night," he replied. "When she had the Mumblemumps last year, I brought her sunflowers while I made everyone on the team buy her something. I got her out of detention a couple years ago, and I visited her in the Hospital Wing after knocking her off her broom." Marcus decided it would be best for them not to know about her night in the Slytherin common room, or the times he'd given her a kiss. He knew he could've taken down the ginger easily, but _two gingers_? He didn't stand a chance, not even with Pucey by his side.

"So she likes surprises," George concluded.

"Well yeah, I guess you could say that," he nodded.

The Weasley twins turned to each other once again, this time deep in thought. A few whispers, nods and yeah's later, they turned to face the dark-haired Slytherins.

"After much thinking," said Fred.

"We thought," his twin added,

"It would be best," they began alternating phrases,

"If you give her a puzzle,"

"That will lead…"

"Directly…"

"To you," they finished in unison with grins on their faces.

"We'll help you make it, of course," George added.

"Not bad," Pucey nodded. "Not bad at all. Now what kind of puzzle should we be?"

"Perhaps we should ask her lover," Fred looked to Flint.

"Well, she likes..." Now that he thought about it, he _didn't _know Katie as well as he thought he did. Even so, there was an undeniable connection between the two; current circumstances (Houses, for instance) prevented them from spending much time together. "Candy?" he finally answered, remembering how he surprised her in the Hospital Wing when she was sick. "And sunflowers," he added.

"Ever considered roses?" Fred asked.

"Not really, no," Flint lied. The ginger twin raised his eyebrows. "Okay, yeah I have, but I thought that would've been a bit forward at the time. I figured sunflowers were the safer choice."

"Well you ought to get roses this time around," George pointed out, "since you've made your feelings pretty clear to her, and she obviously feels the same way."

"He's already agreed to do the actual confession himself," Pucey finally spoke again. "We were just looking to have a few surprises for her to build up to it."

"Yes, of course," Fred nodded. He looked to his twin as though to communicate telepathically. They both nodded at the same time.

"Got it," George said. "It'll be what Muggles call a scavenger hunt."

"Scavenger hunt?" Pucey wondered.

"My dad talked about it once," he shrugged. "Anyway, in a scavenger hunt, the object of the game is to find things on a list that contribute to something bigger. In this case, that something will be Flint. But she won't know that, of course."

"We'll essentially send her on different 'errands', per se, that will give her clues that will eventually lead all to you, Flint, where you'll be waiting with roses," Fred finished for his brother.

"But where would we send her on these 'errands'?" Flint asked. "And how would you get her to do it?"

"We have our ways," he answered. "Once you get to know us, you'll find we can be _very_ persuasive."

"You didn't answer my first question," Flint said impatiently.

"Here, of course."

"How the hell are you going to send her on errands in one damn parlour?" he threw his hands in the air.

"You really are as thick as Wood tells us," George fought to hold back a snicker. "He was referring to anywhere and everywhere in Diagon Alley, you daft bint."

"Alright! I get it," Flint said, frustrated at his sudden realization of his lack of a social life before Katie. "Are you sure this is going to work?"

"Absolutely," Fred nodded. "We _live _for moments like these. Don't we, Georgie?"

Pucey snickered at the other Weasley twin's nickname.

"Was that really necessary?" George sighed. "But yes, yes we do."

* * *

Hmm, I wonder how their little plan is going to go?

**Note: Sorry I haven't updated in 2 weeks, I was really busy last weekend and during the week so I didn't have time to write another chapter. But I just thought I'd let you all know that this is still me, independentdreamer007, but I changed my username to "prettylittleravenclaw". It's still me, though!**


	16. Chapter 16

**Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter!**

Soooo, I'm finally back! I hope you all haven't lost interest, although I apologize if you have. Don't worry, this story is still very much alive; I have an idea on how it's going to end. I'm so sorry it's taken me forever to update. I've had a lot going on w/ school and projects and college decisions and whatnot. Not to mention I have AP testing coming up in less than a month! I actually had a to read a few chapters back to remember what was happening (epic fail much? haha). I don't want to give too much away, but this is a somewhat more lighthearted chapter. I hope you guys like it!

* * *

"Now, where to begin," Fred whispered at the Leaky Cauldron. "I have no idea where she lives."

"Neither do I," George agreed with his twin. "So much for helping a friend in need."

"Angelina knows," Fred thought aloud. "Let's find out through her."

"She's not that thick, Fred. She'll know we're up to something, and the fewer that know, the better for us _and _those Slytherin blokes. We ought to use a directory or something."

"I've got something even better," Fred got a twinkling in his eye. Suddenly, George had the same idea.

"Floo powder," they replied simultaneously and high-fived each other.

"Won't that be weird though, just showing up at her place like that?" George asked curiously.

His twin shrugged with a mischievous smile. "Who cares? The look on her face after this whole deal is gonna be _priceless_."

Fred had already come prepared, having smuggled floo powder from the flower pot at the Burrow.

"Ready Fred?"

"Ready George."

"Bell Residence."

The twins landed in coughing fits as the stumbled into the living room of Katie Bell's house. She and her parents had been eating lunch at the dining table, and all three pairs of eyes turned to stare in shock and surprise at the two gingers covered in soot in the middle of the living room.

"Fred? George?" Katie looked at them confusedly. "What're you doing here?"

"Greetings, fellow teammate," Fred came and put an arm around her with a cheeky smile. "We are here…to help you get a head start on some shopping."

She raised her light brown eyebrows. "What for?"

"Stuff," George spoke up.

"Thank you, Captain Obvious," Katie said sarcastically. "Really, though. Shopping? I usually do that with Angie and/or Ali."

"Trust me, we learned long ago not to go shopping with women," Fred recalled going with his mom and Ginny shopping about a year ago for her Hogwarts robes, as well as the times when their mother would get distracted in Diagon Alley during their so-called 'short' trips. "We are going to help you get your school supplies."

"Why the rush?" Katie started getting suspicious. "We just got out of school two weeks ago!"

"It'll be fun, trust us!" George persuaded. "You may not have spent a whole lot of time with us outside of Quidditch, but we know how to have a good time."

Katie looked to her parents, who nodded.

"While I highly disapprove of you two rudely interrupting our lovely meal this afternoon, I don't object to this so-called 'school shopping'," Benjamin gave his approval.

"Have fun, dear! Don't be out too late," Emily waved to her daughter.

"Oh we'll take care of her, Mr. and Mrs. Bell," George assured her parents.

The twins practically dragged the slim blonde girl to the fireplace, grabbed a handful of floo powder and chanted, "Diagon Alley!"

"Okay, you guys want to tell me what's going on?" Katie was almost mad at them, but she found it impossible to stay mad.

"Turns out we won't be accompanying you today, mate," Fred said in a mock-apologetic manner. "But everything you need to know is," at this, he took out a sheet of paper, "right here. Follow the instructions exactly as they say, and I think you'll find what you're looking for. Start at Flourish and Blott's."

Katie smoothed out the paper and read the first step:

_Go five steps forward, three steps right _

_and grab the first object in your line of sight._

"You've got to be kidding," she exclaimed. "Is this some sort of joke?"

She looked around her to find that she was all alone. "Great. Might as well." She complied with the first step to find a clear, transparent bag right in front of her. It was tied up with a light pink ribbon and appeared to be nearly half filled with Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Beans.

"This must be it. It's not every day that I find candy in a book store, now, is it?" she shrugged and looked down at the paper for her next step.

_Got it? Good, quit sitting there like a doll._

_Have a ball and eat it all._

"Really, now?" she sighed and untied the bag. Katie took one look inside and wondered how she was to eat all of it herself. She noticed a note scribbled right under it:

_And if you don't, you're permanently stuck in that spot until you do. So you don't have a choice, really._

"Here goes nothing," Katie took a handful and stuffed them in her mouth. They tasted awful, with the combination of a wide variety of flavors, but she didn't want to risk the chance that they were actually serious and she would be stuck in the somewhat cramped bookstore.

"Excuse me miss, no food or beverage in here," one of the shopkeepers quickly tried to whisk her out.

"I'm afraid I can't," Katie apologized. "Literally, I can't. Feel free to try."

The old lady just narrowed her eyes and walked away. Katie looked at the bag, which only had about an eighth of the original amount. "I've come this far, haven't I? Might as well finish the lot."

As she ate the final jelly bean, she saw a small parchment paper with her name printed in curly writing.

_Thought that was hard? Next one's worse._

_Time to take a trip down good ole' Knockturn._

_(Three shops in should do it)_

"Shit," she whispered. "There? Of all the bloody places?" The paper started to burn slightly in her hand, and words started forming: _The Sorting Hat didn't make a mistake in putting you in Gryffindor, did it?_

"Of course not," she answered indignantly, and left Flourish and Blott's before the old shopkeeper could say anything more.

There was a reason Katie had stayed away from Knockturn Alley from the moment she stepped foot in Diagon Alley. It was where all the creepers, pedophiles, and everything associated with dark magic lay. She huffed and put up her hood before walking in as fast as she could.

Luckily for her, the shop wasn't too far in; the shops were a little further apart than in Diagon Alley, but it was still close enough to the entrance for any fear to be tolerable.

Katie cautiously went into the shop, which was as suspicious as suspicious could get. There were many nooks and crannies in which things could pop out at her any minute, and to make things worse, everything was in disarray and looked as though it had not been touched in at least ten years.

"Of _course_ they'd send me to an old abandoned shop that could very well be haunted," she rolled her eyes. "That's _so _Fred and George."

As she was about to leave, she noticed a small piece of parchment paper entwined between two rickety-looking fingers of a creepy skeleton hand on a vintage looking side table.

"If this hand turns out to be enchanted and imprison me here for eternity, I _will _kill you," Katie said aloud, and grabbed the parchment from the hand as fast as she could.

_That was a test, you obviously passed_

_Claim your prize, you can at last._

"Alright, that's it, I'm sick of these riddles!" she threw the parchment on the floor. "Is this some kind of joke?" The paper glowed in response.

_But one more thing…_

"What now?" she said, exasperated.

_You ought to check out Quality Quidditch Supplies. (No this is not a riddle…more like a suggestion…that we highly suggest you heed)_

"Eh, why not? I could check out that Firebolt Angie's been telling me about," she shrugged, relieved to finally leave the creepy old shop.

Sure enough, it was overflowing with people trying to lay eyes on the new Firebolt.

"Great, this is exactly what I need," she thought. "What was the purpose of this one, eh?"

"Excuse me!" a stout old man wobbled his way to the front. "I have a custom order ready for delivery to a Miss Kaitlin Bell?"

* * *

Cliffhanger! I'm hoping this chapter wasn't too boring. I was kind of inspired by the creepy text messages from 'A' on one of my favorite shows, Pretty Little Liars, for the scavenger hunt, so looking back, it seems more like a mystery than a scavenger hunt, seeing as she doesn't really have to look for anything after the jellybeans. But then again, Fred and George are wizards, and scavenger hunts are typically a Muggle thing, so you can't really expect them to get it spot on, hehehe. Anyway, I can't give you all an exact date as to when the next chapter will be up, but I will aim for having another chapter up within the next couple weeks, maybe more maybe less. It all depends on how busy I am and how many of you are still interested. And another thing...I am really bad at poetry (like I seriously hated it when I had to write poems for homework in my freshman year), I'm so surprised I was able to make some (hopefully) decent couplets for this chapter.


	17. Chapter 17

**Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter!**

So here I am again with the next chapter. I'm on summer break now, so I'll try to update more often now that I'll have so much time on my hands! I hope you like it!

* * *

"I'm sorry, there must be a mistake," Katie said. "I didn't order anything." _Gosh, this has been the weirdest day ever_, she thought, shaking her head.

"Well I insist you must take it," the stout man pressed the long rectangular package in her arms.

"Um, alright, but I haven't any money to pay for it…" she finally decided it would be best to take it; the man didn't seem like he had any intentions of harming her.

"No worries, madam, it's already been paid for," he smiled at her.

"You don't need to call me 'Madam', I haven't even turned 14 yet," Katie laughed. "Okay, I'll open it in a bit."

"Time is of the essence! Open it quickly!" he called, before waddling away.

She examined the package carefully; it was wrapped in gold with a red bow on top. _Obviously someone from Hogwarts_, she thought. Attached dead center was a white envelope that read "Katie" in elegant writing. Slowly, she detached the envelope from the package and opened it.

_I'm sure you've noticed by now that I'm not one to outright express myself the way that you ask, but if that's the only way I'll have you, I suppose I could make an exception. Go to the first place you think of when you hear my name, and I think you'll find what you're looking for._

Katie stopped at the last line. "Okay quit messing with my head," she said aloud. "I'm really tired of this; I'm not a fucking _Ravenclaw_, for Godric's sake! I guess I'm smart, but I'm not _that _smart. If you're the person I think it is, you've never struck me as poetic. So I've concluded that you are either, A) some creepy stalker trying to serenade me (and failing really, really badly) or B) the person I think you are (and want you to be). I'm going with B, otherwise I won't ever figure this out." She sighed, as her eyes wandered around slowly in thought. "So the first place I think of when I hear your name, eh? Guess I'm stuck here, then. I hate to admit it, but you're a pretty good flier…when you're not trying to knock people off their brooms."

"I'll take that as a compliment, Miss Bell," a deep voice boomed from about six inches behind her.

"Oh my God," Katie jumped backwards to see who had snuck up on her. Sure enough, she chose right; Katie Bell's blue eyes were now locked into Marcus Flint's dark, emotionless ones. "Marcus?" she finally managed to say. "You?"

"Yeah," he nodded, rubbing the back of his neck nervously. "Um…I hope I didn't scare you too much with that whole thing."

"I wouldn't say you scared me, although you're pretty good at messing with my head," Katie pouted and crossed her arms. "Making me eat half a bag of Every Flavor Beans? Really?"

"You can thank those ginger twins for that," Flint said. "They were kind of in on this whole thing. Except for the last part. They helped me a little with the stuff, but the message was all me."

"This is _so _Fred and George," she smiled and shook her head.

"You should open the package," he said matter-of-factly.

"Oh," Katie blushed, remembering the gold box that she was still holding. "I should probably get on that, shouldn't I?" She slowly lifted the cover to find a bouquet of a dozen red roses and a single chocolate frog on it. "These are lovely, Marcus," she said quietly. "I've never gotten roses from anyone before." Her face lit up when her eyes shifted to the chocolate frog. "And you have no idea how much I _love _chocolate frogs!"

"Oh, this one isn't just _any _chocolate frog…" Marcus smirked.

"Why's that?"

"Why don't you stop asking questions and just see for yourself?"

"Okay, okay, sorry," Katie took the chocolate frog and popped it in her mouth before eagerly checking who was on the card.

She gasped. Marcus was right; this was no ordinary card, for an ordinary card would have the face of a famous witch or wizard on it, along with a mini biography at the bottom. But no; this one had Marcus's face on it, posing with his broomstick awkwardly (but still posing nonetheless). And where the biography should have been, read the question: "Go out with me?"

Katie giggled at the awkwardness of his pose. "Of course!" she finally said with a smile.

Both leaned in towards hesitantly, and Katie Bell and Marcus Flint shared their first kiss. They held it for what felt like ten seconds to Katie, before two pairs of hands clapped from behind Marcus.

"Bravo, bravo!" Fred clapped, slapping Flint on the back, while George proceeded to hug Katie by her neck from behind.

"Guys…" she blushed slightly.

"Don't worry, we've got your back, we know how young love is, don't we Georgie?" Fred looked at his twin with a smile.

"Here we go with the girly nick names again," George sighed. "But yes, yes we do. And we'll be sure to keep it on the down low until the end of the school year, yeah?"

"And what about afterwards?" Flint asked, slightly suspicious.

"Well, if you want us to, we still can," Fred said thoughtfully, being unusually serious. "But it wouldn't matter _too _much since both you and Wood will be gone, anyway."

"Fair enough," Marcus nodded. "And do me a favor and don't tell Wood I wasn't a complete arse to you two or that I'm dating one of his players, will you?"

"Of course, mate," George nodded.

"Yeah," Fred nodded. "But we're still going to murder you on the field."

"We'll see about that," Flint threw a menacing look at the ginger twins.

"Oh there's one little thing we have to do before we're 'official'," Katie spoke up.

"And what is that?" Marcus raised his eyebrows in curiosity.

"You have to meet my parents," she said seriously.

He hissed a little. "Damn Gryffindors…"

"Oh, they weren't Gryffindors, actually," she said brightly. "They were Hufflepuffs."

"Even better," he thought aloud sarcastically. To him, Hufflepuffs in general were just too nice, too goody two-shoes for him. Not to mention they were fiercely protective of those they care about; he assumed that Katie's parents would be the same.

"Oh they're really nice," she assured him. "Just be extra polite to them and they'll like you." _I hope_, she added silently to herself.

* * *

So now that they're official, I'm going to most likely take it a little slower pace wise, but in a couple chapters they'll be at Hogwarts, don't worry! I just felt that since these past couple chapters were the turning point in their whole relationship as they've gotten to know each other, I should put a little emphasis on it. I'll update as soon as I can!


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